


Always Proofread Your Child's Homework

by Misscar



Category: Boy Meets World
Genre: Adoption, Coming Out, Ex-spouses that still like each other, F/M, Families of Choice, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Learning Disabilities, M/M, Pansexual Character, Parent Death, Past Character Death, References to Homophobia, Same-Sex Marriage, Voyeurism, blowjob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:03:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/648895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misscar/pseuds/Misscar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternative Title: Riley Hunter Matthews-Lawrence's ingenious plan to get rid of her English teacher who keeps hitting on her father (even before the divorce) and is nasty to her BFF Maya.</p>
<p>Summary: 13-year-old Riley Hunter Matthews-Lawrence decided to be completely honest with her biography homework assignment most likely for nefarious purposes only known to her and her BFF Maya. In Cory's opinion, she was too honest forcing him to have a very uncomfortable parent-teacher conference with the woman who has been stocking him since the divorce (or before according to Topanga). On the bright side, she probably won't be doing that anymore now that he's been outed by his 13-year-old daughter, if said teacher will come out of her denial.</p>
<p>In other words, this is how I would do Girl Meets World with the freedom to do whatever I want and include any character I want in a way that would make One Million Moms apoplectic or breakout pitchforks. Let's just say this would never end up on Disney.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My English teacher is crazy, help!

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler Alert for Girl Meets World: I have used some of the things mentioned in the press about the new show including the names for Cory's daughter and her BFF because I couldn't come up with anything better. I developed Maya beyond the character description provided in the casting sheet. Cory will be her seventh grade history teacher. Everything else is going to be left up to my creative and twisted imagination. However, there will be no biological big brother. He just did not work with my vision.
> 
> I usually tried to stay close to Canon but that's a little hard with a show that has inconsistencies. Some things I had to disregard just for everything to make sense.
> 
> Pairings: Post Cory/Topanga, past Shawn/OCs, and Cory/Shawn in a way that really can't be defined. The question is not whether Cory and Shawn are in love with each other because that's obvious, the question is are they sleeping together. Because I have more creative freedom on this website, there will be a bit more Cory/Shawn fun time in the version posted here.  
> Note: This story takes place in December 2013 because I don't like fudging the numbers and I needed a certain piece of legislation to already be in play. Also the events of episode 7/17 had to happen around February 2000 for everything to make sense.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just thought this would be more productive than posting comments on message boards.
> 
> Warning: Story written by dyslexic person using voice recognition software. May contain homonyms and strange voice recognition mistakes that can easily get past the most well-meaning beta. Constructive criticism welcome, nastiness is not.
> 
> Thank you to Unforgiven1290 for being the beta on this chapter.
> 
> Story warnings: Past character death

Riley Hunter Matthews-Lawrence was your typical 13-year-old from a loving home with parents that cared about her very much even if they had separate apartments now. Unfortunately, she went to a junior high school where most people weren't typical and the majority of her classmates had parents with BMWs or who were Senators. The rest were super geniuses at the school on academic scholarship. Her mom was not a Senator (yet) and although she had decent grades, she was not a super genius. The only reason why she was at Friendship Academy was her father was, unfortunately, her history teacher.

Her father ended up with his job at Friendship Academy because her mother's boss was on the Board of Trustees and they really wanted her at their firm. Fortunately, because Riley has three last names not everyone has figured out that they are related. A lot of her classmates are complete airheads. Those that were smart enough to know were also smart enough to know that you don't want to make your history teacher mad and teasing his kid would do that. These were typically the scholarship students so they tended to be nicer usually.

She didn't have that many friends in school because who wants to be friends with the daughter of your history teacher? However, she did have Maya. They have been the best of friends since Maya was six. They always have each other's back no matter what. Right now, she needed to protect her best friend from their evil and/or crazy English teacher, Ms. Ryan.

Riley has never liked Ms. Ryan, even before she actually had her in class. The first time they met, she treated Riley like a toddler. She also touched her father in an inappropriate way, even though he was still married to Riley's mom Topanga at the time, not that he noticed. Riley has always been very good at telling when somebody had a crush on her father and Ms. Ryan has a crush on her dad. (Now if only Riley could tell if Jorge Cruz actually liked her.)

Despite blatantly telling her that he's not interested and her mom and Uncle Shawn threatening her with bodily harm (repeatedly), Ms. Ryan has not backed off. Despite her dad bringing a date to every single teacher function since the divorce, Ms. Ryan still thinks that she has a chance with Riley's father. Even if her father was interested there was no way Riley would let that woman become her stepmom. Ms. Ryan is not a nice person and slightly deranged.

However, now that she has had to deal with Ms. Ryan on a daily basis it was worse. First, she let other students call Maya offensive names. Actually she tolerated bullying in general. None of the other teachers at Friendship Academy tolerated teasing of other students for any reason including being there on scholarship or having a disability. Ms. Ryan just didn't care.

Her best friend Maya was really smart but she had a disability where she couldn't express herself in writing. Therefore, she typed everything out or used voice recognition software. Other teachers were okay with that but Ms. Ryan saw it as cheating and was convinced that someone else was doing all of Maya's assignments for her. She actually implied that Maya was too stupid to write anything as good as she had for the last assignment. Her best friend spent half of lunch that day crying in the bathroom but she refused to tell her foster father about it. Also, Maya would not let Riley tell anybody else what was happening.

Riley really is not surprise considering how Ms. Ryan treated Josh two years ago when he was in her class. She even tolerated students teasing Josh because he's an orphan being raised by his brother, Riley's father Cory. Riley remembered what happened after the great biography assignment when Josh was in seventh grade. Let's just say she wasn't very nice to Riley's surrogate big brother and her mom Topanga was tempted to knock her out.

Riley decided to use this assignment for her own purposes. At best Ms. Ryan would do something silly and their new Principal, Ms. Jones, will realize they need a decent English teacher who treats all students with respect. At worst, Ms. Ryan will realize that her father is not available or interested in any one of her gender and she will stop hitting on him. Really all she had to do was tell the complete truth which is what Riley was intending to do anyway. As far as Riley was concerned it was a win-win situation. Therefore, when she turned in her paper two days after her 13th birthday she couldn't stop smiling. This was going to be fun.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Days Later

As Cory Matthews sat in the teacher's lounge of Friendship Academy, grading another less than wonderful seventh-grade history essay he seriously wondered why he decided to be a teacher. The grammar was horrible and the student most likely got some of his information from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer. Seriously, how did Feeny deal with this for decades?

Then he remembered how it all began, how many things do, with a broken condom and the need to take care of his family. During their move to New York they stopped three times because Topanga got sick. Shawn was the one who made her get a pregnancy test not wanting a repeat of what happened in February. He was also the one who found Cory when he started hyperventilating and calm him down enough to go back to Topanga when the test came back positive. They both wanted children someday but this wasn't the right time.

You would think after the scare a few months earlier he would be more vigilant but it didn't happen. There wasn't anything that could be done about it at that point in his mind. Once he calmed down or rather Shawn smacked him upside the head to get him to calm down he realized that he needed to choose a career that would help him provide for his growing family. After a panicked conversation with Mr. Feeny he decided on teaching. The pay was ok but the hours were regular and he would have summers off to spend with his daughter. He even convince Shawn to do education as well, as a backup plan, if writing doesn't work. Fortunately Shawn has a job he loves as a writer and doesn't need to stand in front of a room full of students that often. He does volunteer at an afterschool program in Anacostia, which is how his daughter Riley met her best friend Maya.

The first time he held his little girl Riley, Cory knew he would do anything to keep her happy and safe even if it meant having to deal with unruly junior high students. After graduation. Cory and Shawn taught at various schools throughout New York City as substitute teachers. Shawn was good at it because he understood the students in a way Cory couldn't, even if Shawn was spending his lunch hour writing poetry. Cory was just glad he was good at it enough to get a permanent job at a charter school. During the substitute teaching days, he would have to keep looking at a picture of Riley to help him get through the day. It did eventually get better and he loved it.

He only stayed there for two years until Topanga graduated from law school and accepted a job in Washington DC. She was essentially a lobbyist but she lobbied for good things like clean air and marriage equality. She also may have sued the DC public school system once or twice to help students with disabilities receive the accommodations that they needed and are legally entitled to. It allows her to reconcile the two parts of herself.

Cory originally did not want to move to another state again but he knew Topanga really wanted this job and by this point his brother Eric had already relocated to California. He was also convinced that the Maryland suburbs would be better for his five-year-old daughter then New York City. The firm in DC wanted Topanga so much that they made sure that he wouldn't have to revisit the joys of substitute teaching. One of the partners at the new firm happened to be on the Board of Trustees for a very exclusive Maryland prep school called Friendship Academy. He was able to get Cory a job there teaching seventh and eighth grade history. The best part of the job was his children were entitled to free tuition.

Of course he became more okay with the idea of relocating to Maryland when he found out Shawn got a job with Politics Daily in DC and would be moving there as well. Cory almost wondered if Topanga and Shawn planned it that way but neither would answer.

Shawn said it was because he wanted to get away from his ex-boyfriend Zachary, that Cory absolutely despised, and that's why he started applying for jobs in DC. Topanga argued that it was more complicated than that but wouldn't say anything else, at least not to him. He may have listened in on one of her many conversations with Angela where she spilled everything. Angela and Topanga theorized that Shawn came to DC because he couldn't bear to be away from Cory. They also believed that Shawn's two-year relationship with Zachary fell apart because he was jealous of the closeness between Cory and Shawn. At the time, he didn't believe that but he knew better now. Of course, a few weeks later his parents died in a car accident and he really didn't have time to figure out why his best friend moved for him again.

Sometime after that Topanga and Cory began couples therapy. She initially said it was to help them deal with losing his parents and the fact that they now had custody of his eight-year-old brother. Oddly enough, most of these therapy sessions focused on the fact that he was closer to his best friend then his wife.

It was a few more years before he came to the conclusion that he loves Topanga, he just doesn't like having sex with her. It takes a few more weeks before he realizes that he doesn't want to have sex with anyone of the female gender. It only takes one more night after that for Cory to realize who he does want to have sex with and apparently he was already completely in love with that person. Topanga is not surprise she just hugged him as they both cried.

Cory wanted to stay together for Riley, despite this revelation. He remembered seeing how hurt Topanga was after her parents got divorced and he couldn't do that to Riley. Being who she was, Topanga couldn't let that happen. She said that she loved him too much to make him miserable.

According to their lawyer it was the most amicable divorce that she has ever worked on. There were no fights about money or custody of the kids. They live in the same apartment complex just across the hall from each other. Cory now lives with Shawn and his foster daughter Maya. Josh and Riley live with Topanga because she refused to separate the kids. They saw each other more as brother and sister, then uncle and niece. He takes the children to school in the morning and home every night. He makes dinner and 90% of the time Topanga eats with him, Shawn and the children before they go to their apartment for the night. It's a good arrangement; they are just one big modern family.

After the divorce, for reasons known only to her, Topanga's new cause became achieving Marriage equality in Maryland. Honestly, Cory believed she was a little obsessed about it. She was ecstatic when question six went through last year. They actually threw a party. As he played with the ring around his neck he remembered that party quite fondly.

Of course, he was brought out of his happy thoughts when Ms. Ryan walked into the room. She's not exactly the most well-liked among his fellow occupants of the teacher's lounge. Most were hoping that the new principle would get rid of her this year. Ever since the divorce four years ago, she has been hitting on him mercilessly under the assumption that he was single. According to Topanga, it was long before that but he was too oblivious to realize it and even if she knew that Cory was not single she would still keep doing it.

He decided it was best to keep his personal life out of the classroom and therefore most assume that he was unattached. Principal Jones knew as well as his teacher friends and that was all that mattered. Besides he felt it was best not to say anything to Ms. Ryan considering the no on question 6 bumper sticker that was still on her car and the snide things she said about one of the students that has two mothers. He assumed that she would eventually figure it out without him having to be specific. The majority of the other teachers and a few of the students have. Seriously, he has brought Shawn to the last three faculty 'winter season' parties and end of the school year barbecues. It should be obvious.

"Mr. Matthews, do you have a moment to talk about Riley's last English assignment?" She asked in a way that makes him sure he had no choice but to talk to her and he really didn't want to. Usually by this point she would be trying to pinch his backside or use the type of pickup lines Shawn use before he realized why he could never keep a girlfriend very long.

She seemed a little worried. He just hoped Maya did not talk his daughter into doing anything that could get her suspended, although, it could be the other way around. Maya was a bright kid despite having a difficult childhood filled with a mother who was never there because of her own demons, an unknown father, a hard-working but sick grandmother, and a learning disability that made most school work 10 times harder. Things were rough for her until Shawn became her foster father. She was even at the school on scholarship. The girls tended to stick together at school since they weren't as wealthy as their fellow classmates. Unfortunately, the scholarship kids were not always treated the best by their wealthier peers.

When the two girls were together mischief usually happened. When they were seven the girls thought it would be funny to dye all his white shirts pink. When they were 8 they somehow managed to skip school and go to the zoo for the day without adult supervision. At 11 there was an incident with various pyrotechnics and his sister's mailbox when they went to Philadelphia for the Fourth of July. Considering Ms. Ryan was high strung to begin with, this could be bad.

"Sure, I can finish grading these papers tonight." He said slightly annoyed. It was Friday and Topanga was leaving early so she could spend the night with the kids which meant he was going to have one of those rare Cory/Shawn nights. This was repayment for last Friday when he and Shawn took care of the kids so Topanga could go out with some random friend that Angela set her up with.

"Riley is my first priority." He said more to himself than to her. "So what did she do and how is Maya involved? Do I need to call Shawn for this? Was it bad enough that I need to call Topanga?" He said feeling a headache coming on. He really hoped he didn't need to call Topanga because she despised Ms. Ryan and Topanga rarely hates anyone.

"I'm not sure how Maya is involved; although, I'm sure she is. I just don't think she's bright enough to be the ringleader in this." Ms. Ryan mumbled under breath showing her very evident disdain for his daughter's best friend. Shawn is convinced that Ms. Ryan doesn't like Maya because she doesn't like having to read her test to the girl or let her use a computer in class. Cory was worried it was deeper than that but Maya never said anything to him about unfair treatment in the class.

"I already left Mr. Hunter a voicemail regarding his charge. You may still need to call Mr. Hunter after we talk. The situation involves him regardless." She said quickly. She really did not like Shawn. It was obvious by the way she said his name. He didn't like her either mostly because of how she treats Maya. If he had any proof he would take it to Principal Jones but right now he only had his suspicions.

"So what happened?" He asked again.

"In the seventh grade English curriculum each student is to prepare a biography of his/her life. This counts as 15% of their grade." She explained.

"I remember when Josh had the assignment two years ago when he was in your class." Cory was also dragged into Ms. Ryan's classroom after that assignment because she felt Josh focused too much on his parents dying and having to move to another state to live with his big brother and sister-in-law. She was also concerned that he glossed over the divorce. She was expecting more trauma. She wanted Josh to see the school psychologist. Topanga thought that it was a good idea but refused to say that in front of Ms. Ryan. Shawn agreed, to his surprise. According to the therapist, for a child who lost his parents a few years earlier, Josh was surprisingly well-adjusted.

"You're not going to suggest Riley see the school psychologist? I know you think otherwise but really the divorce wasn't that traumatic. We are still best friends and love each other very much. More importantly, we love Riley very much and she knows that." Cory said with a sigh.

"I may make that recommendation but not for that reason. It's obvious that Riley embellished or made things up for her essay. Maya's essay collaborated these untruths. This assignment requires complete honesty. For example, I seriously doubt she was happy that you and your wife divorced, yet that's what she said in her paper. I even wonder if she wrote Maya's essay because it seemed too good for someone with her limited abilities. Because of this, I'm going to have to give Riley a zero for the assignment. I will discuss the situation regarding his foster daughter's obvious cheating when Mr. Hunter returns my calls."

Cory rubbed his temple sincerely wishing that he would have proofread the assignment just so he could easily refute the obviously false claims but Riley wouldn't let him. She said it was cheating to have another teacher read her assignments first (she also remembered the heavy editing that he did to Josh's essay). Usually Topanga or Shawn were in charge of homework help. Although in this case, she wouldn't let those two help either. However, the person she did have help her wouldn't allow what Ms. Ryan was accusing her of. As for the accusations against, Maya they were just plain ridiculous. He listened to her dictate half the essay.

"First of all, just because Maya has a disability, that does not mean she's stupid. I don't believe in nepotism and I can tell you that Maya has earned every single A she has received in my class. There is a reason why she is in my honor seventh grade history class." Cory said defending his daughter's friend. Although, at least now he had something that he could give to Principal Jones.

"As I keep telling you the divorce wasn't that traumatic for Riley and she probably did feel that way. Riley would not allow Topanga nor me see her paper because she didn't want us to influence the paper, so I don't know specifically what it said. However, she did send it to Mr. Feeny. I doubt that he would let her turn in something that was false. Besides how can you know what my daughter, or Maya for that matter, have lived through? You don't know either girl." Cory was annoyed at this point but he tried to stay professional. He knows that he hates it when parents start screaming at him because he didn't give their little darling an A when she/he didn't deserve it.

"She mentioned a Mr. Feeny, that she referred to as her surrogate grandfather in the paper, but I find it hard to believe that your college professor also taught you in junior high and was your next-door neighbor." Cory actually laughed at that. Riley did see Mr. Feeny as her grandfather. His parents died when Riley was in kindergarten and Topanga hasn't been on speaking terms with her parents since the divorce. They never wanted the two to get married and they went a little too 'I told you so' after the divorce. She occasionally still spoke to Nebula but her Peace Corps sister was not happy that Topanga grew up to be part of the system even if she was an environmental lobbyist.

"That is actually true. We still see him all the time when we are in Philadelphia to see my sister and her son." Ms. Ryan seemed upset at his confirmation.

"Did she actually spend an entire summer Angola once?" Ms. Ryan asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Shawn's brother lives there with his wife Jumoke. He's a doctor at a clinic there. Shawn took the girls there for his wedding." Eventually Jack's stepfather talked him into going to med school although he got the last laugh by deciding to start a free clinic in Angola.

"What about trips to Tokyo and Oman?" She asked quickly. Again, he wanted to laugh.

"Her godmother, Angela, is a foreign service officer with the US Department of State. She's currently stationed in DC. She has been stationed all over the world and we have visited her in a few strange places. If Riley has claimed to have met President Obama, that's not true. However, she has met Hillary Clinton. She is shorter in person." Cory joked.

"She did not include that." Ms. Ryan said quickly. "Given that this is the DC area and a few of our students do have senators for fathers, I would find that plausible." Cory was trying not to roll his eyes again at that.

"She's 13. Stuff like that doesn't matter that much to her. I'm sure getting to meet Justin Bieber last spring is in there." Riley was currently in love with him. If only she would stick with celebrity crushes. Unfortunately, she was in love with half the boys in the eighth grade and all of Josh's basketball friends. He really didn't want his little girl doing half the stuff he did at that age.

"That's actually true?" The teacher asked in shock.

"Yeah. My brother is a big voiceover star. He's currently doing the Naked Mole Rat Chronicles on the Mouse Ears channel. Riley and Maya were his escort to the Kids Choice Awards last year. I think it might be better if you just let me read my daughter's paper." He said at that point.

"I think you may be right." She said handing over a yellow folder with smiley faces on it. "You can keep that copy, I made a PDF."

Inside was the cover page with the title: The life and times of Riley by Riley Hunter Matthews-Lawrence. Underneath, was a picture of him, Shawn, and Topanga holding baby Riley. You couldn't see her hair because of the pink hat covering her head. She was such a cute baby. He's going to have to find a copy of that picture for his cell phone. He quickly looked inside to see other pictures of Riley. There were several of Shawn or Eric babysitting her when he and Topanga were busy with school. There was also a picture of a four-year-old Riley with his parents. That made him want to cry. He wished they were still around. Would they be happy with the life he had now?

There were not any pictures of Topanga's family in there because they never made a real effort to meet their granddaughter. There were also more recent pictures of Maya, Riley and Josh altogether. There was also a wonderful picture of Mr. Feeny lecturing Maya and Riley after the firecracker incident a year and a half ago. He laughed when he saw that.

Of course the picture that caught his attention the most was of him and Shawn wearing tuxedos on the Maryland shore with Riley and Maya in their bridesmaids outfits. Why does he have a feeling that this was what Ms. Ryan was most concerned about?

Riley was a very artistically minded person, so he's not surprised that she included a photo collage. She was really good with Photoshop and publisher. He laughed when he saw the Justin Bieber picture in the center of everything. Yes she was definitely his daughter.

"There's a picture of her and Maya in here with Justin Bieber and you still didn't believe it?" He asked using that picture instead of mentioning the one from Ocean City. Thank god she didn't include anything with the justice of peace or Topanga acting as best person.

"Considering the other lies in her biography, it was hard to believe one of the more sensational truths. I thought she just used Photoshop." Cory just rolled his eyes. It was moments like these that he was sure he only stayed here for the free tuition. He would seriously consider finding another job so he wouldn't have to deal with Ms. Ryan if it wasn't for that. He was just glad that after next year none of the children he is responsible for will have to deal with her as an instructor.

"Let me be the judge of that." Cory said as he began to read.

My name is Riley Hunter Matthews-Lawrence. I am the only biological child of Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence-Matthews. I also have an Uncle Shawn; although, he's not really my uncle even if my mother sees him as more of a sibling then my Aunt Nebula. She did not even come to my parents wedding. Contrary to what everybody thought, my dad doesn't see Uncle Shawn in a brotherly way at all, even if they have been in love with each other sense way before I was born.

I have two aunts and two biological uncles. Aunt Nebula currently lives in Guyana and I haven't seen her since I was four years old. I really don't remember her. My youngest aunt, Morgan, still lives in Philadelphia and runs my grandfather's old company. She took over after he died. She also has a son, named Alan, that we all call Al, who is four years old but she's not married and doesn't plan to get married anytime soon.

My Uncle Eric lives in California and is a really big star but you've probably never seen him. He's the voice of the naked mole rat on the Naked Mole Rat Chronicles. He also starred in Happily Ever After, Death of a Princess, Justice 2050, and voiced a bunch of characters in the I was a Teenage Wizard movie series. Last year when he won a Kids Choice Award, he invited me and my best friend to the show. We got to actually meet Justin Bieber.

For his own sanity Cory decides not to read over the two paragraphs solely dedicated to Justin Bieber. It was all she could talk about for the two weeks after it happened. At least Maya was obsessed with Bruno Mars. That he could deal with.

Finally there is Josh but I do not consider him an uncle. He is not even two years older than me. We also grew up together. 

Riley doesn't explain why she and Josh grew up together. She also leaves out any mention of grandparents. That probably says more than anything else. Instead, she goes into an entire paragraph about Angela and all the cool places that her godmother has lived. Riley does mention Mister Feeny as her grandfather figure.

I also have Mister Feeny. He's the closest thing I have to a grandfather. He was my dad's next-door neighbor and professor in college. He was also his high school principal and junior high history teacher. My father told me that he's the reason why he decided to become a teacher.

My father is a history teacher here at Friendship Academy. He likes teaching except when he has to grade papers that give him migraines. It's not necessarily a great thing to have your father teach at your school. It's difficult to even get away with the most basic things. Also at 13, riding to school with your father every day is not cool.

Technically, my mother is a lawyer. However, she describes her job as making the world a better place by convincing people to do things they normally would not. Currently she is lobbying for lower greenhouse emissions in the United States. Last year she worked on marriage equality in Maryland and question six.

Finally, there is my Uncle Shawn who is a writer and occasional English substitute teacher. Currently he is working at Politics Daily but they're going digital only at the end of the year and he's not sure that he's being kept on staff. Of course, he hasn't told dad anything about that.

That was true. Cory knew that the magazine was going digital but Shawn mentioned nothing about possibly losing his job. This shouldn't surprise him. Although he would love to know how Riley just knew. Maybe this is the real reason why Shawn asked Topanga to take the kids out for an evening. It looks like fun Cory Shawn time was not happening tonight regardless.

There is a really interesting story about how I got my name. According to Uncle Shawn, my father was really worried about what my name should be. He said names are very important because he didn't want me to run off to change my name the minute I turn 18 because I had something that I absolutely hated. Uncle Eric told me that my dad's name used to be Cornelius but he changed it before he married my mom. 

According to my godmother Angela, I have the name I do because my mom was a really big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and she refused to have a daughter named Shawn. My father refused to have a daughter with a very girly name and still wanted to name me after Uncle Shawn even if I am a girl. The compromise with my first name as Riley and my middle name was Uncle Shawn's old last name. Aunt Morgan said that alone should have told everyone that things are going to end up the way they did.

At this point, Cory was ready to go to his desk to find the giant bottle of Tylenol he keeps there for emergencies like grading Jorge Cruz's latest pop quiz (or over hearing him say what he would like to do to his daughter). Actually, he wished he wasn't at school so he could get something harder. Contrary to what her teacher believed, Riley was too honest in this paper. He was going to be having a long conversation with his sister later.

I'm 13 years old or will be by the time I turn in this paper. My birthday is December 15. My parents were not planning to have me. When I was five years old, Uncle Eric told me that I'm here because the condom broke, uncle Shawn responded by punching him in the nose. I didn't understand what uncle Eric meant until a very uncomfortable sex talk after I had my first period.

He remembered that talk too well. He was the one who had to give it because his ex-wife was at some big conference overseas. She actually asked him to explain that phrase. He will so be sending his brother a text message during his next class about things that you should not tell small children. Cory seriously hoped that he didn't say anything like that to Morgan's son. He was only four but who knew with Eric.

I was born during the middle of my mom's internship at some big law firm in New York city. She still worked there when I was little until she graduated law school and we moved to Maryland. I really don't remember New York that much except for the pizza and uncle Shawn taking me to the Statue of Liberty. Also I remember this really sweet lady who always gave me candy.

According to my godmother Angela, my mom had a really hard time having me and therefore that is why I am an only child even if I wanted a playmate when I was little. I was actually a month early. 

Although according to Josh, I am an only child because my dad thinks that vaginas are icky but that's not the word he used. I do not think I'm allowed to use the P word in this paper.

"I really should have read this paper." Cory mumbled out loud. At this point he's pretty sure that Mr. Feeny did not proofread this like she said. It was probably Angela or Eric. Probably Eric. He would think this was funny. There was no way Cory would have allowed this to go forward without reading it. Also, he was going to have to have a very long talk with his younger brother when he got home.

When I was really little I was kind of lonely. I really only had Uncle Eric to play with. He was fun but crazy. I remember him making crazy voices for all my toys. I tried to make friends with the other kids in my playgroup but it never went well. I spent a lot of time in the sandbox by myself unless Josh was visiting. Unfortunately he lived in Philadelphia with grandpa and grandma Matthews. I loved spending time with my grandparents mostly because that meant I got to be with Josh and Grandma Matthews made the best cookies.

Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa Matthews died when I was six and Uncle Josh came to live with us (although I never call him uncle, because it's weird).

My grandparents died in a car accident. I don't like talking about that. Josh was really sad because he missed Nana and grandpa. He cried a lot at first, even though I gave him my favorite teddy bear. My Dad cried a lot too but only when he was with mom or Uncle Shawn. 

At first, Josh hated being in Maryland and was mean to me. I was too young to understand how hard it was to lose both your parents like that. I understand now how painful it was for him. Things are better now. Because Josh is only two years older than me he is like a big brother. He's very bossy and he tries to control my life. He also spends way too much time in the bathroom and tried to scare me with various stories about Friendship Academy before I actually started school here. Apparently, Uncle Eric did the same thing to my father.

For example, just last week he threatened the cutest boy in the eighth grade, Jorge Cruz, with decapitation if he thought about kissing me. I'm 13 years old, I think I should be able to have a boyfriend but my dad and Shawn say no and Josh is there enforcer. This is highly hypocritical because they all dated when they were my age. I know that Josh is just doing it out of love. I know he sees me as his little sister and sees his actual brother and sister like uncles and aunts. The age thing is weird.

Corey agreed with his daughter. Even if it wasn't for the fact that he has raised Josh sense he was 8 years old, Cory would probably see him more as a nephew or son, then a brother. Sometimes he would love to ask his parents why they decided to have a midlife crisis child but he never got around to it. He wasn't expecting the two to be killed by a drunk driver seven years ago but that's life.

I have a sister sort of now or I will as soon as the adoption paperwork goes through on my best friend Maya. We met almost at the same time Josh came to live with us in Maryland. My Mom and dad didn't want me to deal with all the things related to grandma and grandpa dying. While they were staying in Philadelphia for a few weeks because Aunt Morgan couldn't deal with everything on her own, I got to stay with Uncle Shawn. I was used to Uncle Shawn babysitting me because he did that a lot before we moved to Maryland. This was the first time that it was for so long. It was fun. We took the train back to DC and went to all my favorite museums. He also let me watch all sorts of movies I'm usually not allowed to see and we ate pizza a lot.

After I would go to bed (after staying up way past my bedtime) I would hear him cry. He told me that he missed my grandma and grandpa. He said they were the mother and father that he wished he had. That was the night that he first told me about his parents. His mom abandoned him when he was my age and his father died just before Josh was born. He has a half-brother on his mother's side that he pretends doesn't exist. I think he's in jail for something that no one will tell me about. He claims his brother Jack but is still mad about him moving halfway across the world to Angola. I actually got to meet him a few years later when we went for his wedding. He also came to visit last summer for Uncle Shawn's wedding.

Because Uncle Shawn had such a bad childhood, he likes to help other kids. Sometimes in addition to writing he's a substitute teacher. Everybody loves him when he fills in for Ms. Ryan.

If she is trying to flunk his daughter for that comment, he is taking her straight to the principal. Part of him thinks that's the main reason, although it was probably for her mention of Shawn's wedding.

He also volunteers at an afterschool program in Anacostia called Katie's Kids. He took me with him the summer that I lived with him. That's when I met Maya. She's really bright and can remember stories from memory. But she had a horrible time reading and writing things down. Because of that, she had terrible grades in school. It turns out she had a learning disability and she was actually a genius but nobody realized that but me and Uncle Shawn. 

Maya's mom didn't care about her. She had a drug problem and Maya is not even sure if she still alive. Also, she is aunt Morgan's age. I don't know about Maya's biological father. We don't talk about him and that's okay because she can share mine. She did have a grandmother that loved her very much but it was hard to work with a special child when you had to work two jobs just to put food on the table.

Despite our very different backgrounds Maya just got me. We have been friends ever since I shared my toys with her in the sandbox that first summer. Uncle Shawn made sure to bring Maya over whenever possible. My Mom even invited her to stay the night a lot, especially when her grandma had to work really long hours. She started staying for weeks at a time when Maya's grandmother got really sick. It was cancer but nobody told us that at the time. Apparently they think seven-year-old children cannot deal with that sort of stuff. We know more than you think we do. 

Despite Maya being worried about her grandmother, it was great having her stay over all the time. It was like having the sister I always wanted. It was good for Maya to because she had help with her homework and her grades got a lot better. Although that may have something to do with my mom threatening to sue the DC public school system if they did not provide proper testing and accommodations for Maya's disability.

A year later Maya's grandmother died and I was afraid that she was going to move really far away. The only stable family she had left was an aunt that was in the Army. I was afraid I was going to lose the only real friend I ever had. I asked my parents if Maya could live with us like Josh. They said that they wish she could but it wasn't possible. Back then, they were arguing a lot and visiting Dr. Schneider at least twice a week. 

I knew my parent's marriage was in trouble. They were not happy. At that point, I don't think my dad had been happy since my grandparents died. It would be worse every time Uncle Shawn would bring over a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Actually, he would only be happy on what he referred to as 'Shawn and Cory fun nights'. Whenever he was out with Uncle Shawn I would hear my mom crying a lot in her bedroom.

Corey drops his head on the table at that. Again, everything so far has been 100% true, he just really wished that his daughter wasn't this honest. He didn't know about Topanga crying so much back then. He thought he and Topanga were keeping the extent of the problems from Riley. Yet, she knew more of what was going on then he did. Even if he didn't think it at the time, his and Topanga's arguing was affecting Riley. He owes Topanga flowers for being braver than he was. If they just stayed together for Riley, he doubted she would be the well-adjusted happy 13-year-old she is now.

However, I didn't have to worry because Uncle Shawn became her foster father. Because he had such a bad childhood, he wanted to make sure no other child went through that, he became a certified foster parent. I loved it because that meant my best friend would only live across the hall and we would get to go to the same elementary school. It was nice to actually have a friend at school.

Dad was shocked about this because Uncle Shawn never told him that he wanted to become a foster parent. They were fighting a lot than too but I'm not really sure about what. Usually as soon as I walked into the room they would stop arguing. My mom and dad did the same thing.

Cory remembers exactly what they were arguing about and it had nothing to do with Maya. Actually, he liked Maya because she was the reason why Richard moved out. That was Shawn's live-in boyfriend at the time. Cory was happy because he hated Richard.

Actually he never liked any of Shawn's boyfriends and the only girlfriend he liked was Angela. There was a reason why the woman was Riley's godmother. Okay, he may have had a minor panic attack when his best friend started dating guys (openly) because he just didn't see it as a possibility. He saw Shawn as the paradigm of heterosexuality and when it turned out it wasn't that way it took him a while to get used to it.

According to Topanga and their therapist, he had trouble with this because he was secretly in love with Shawn and hated all his boyfriends because he was jealous. If he wasn't so good at denial, he probably would have figured out what they were saying was true before Riley's eighth birthday. Actually, he didn't figure it out until Shawn disappeared that summer with Maya and Riley and Josh decided to live with his other brother for a few months. He and Topanga couldn't hide what was happening once they were actually alone. The fact that he trusted Shawn to take the person he loves the most in the universe to another country really should've showed him his true feelings.

That summer Maya and I got to meet Uncle Shawn's brother and his future wife Jumoke. They're both doctors. Josh did not come with us because he wanted to spend time with Uncle Eric. My mom and dad had other things to do. Although according to a phone call I overheard between Uncle Shawn and Angela he was taking me with him to help my mom and dad fix their marriage. That was when Maya and I ran away to the zoo. Looking at the panda bears always makes me happy.

I thought they were arguing because of me. When I called Mister Feeny in tears, he told me it wasn't my fault. I didn't really believe him.

Cory was crying at this point. He also sincerely wished that Ms. Ryan would just go away. She didn't want to read something this private in front of the woman.

This trip was the first time that Maya ever left the country or even flew on an airplane. This was the second time for me. Two years earlier we visited my godmother Angela when she was stationed in Japan. Also, I have visited my uncle Eric in California a lot. He has a really big house with a pool and a water slide. I love the trip, even though I missed my mom and dad a lot. 

There were two paragraphs dedicated to everything she and Maya did in Angola. There was also a recounting of the argument that Jack had with his stepfather during the actual ceremony. Riley's version of what happened was better than what he saw in the wedding video. What he read next made him stop breathing for a moment.

However, what I will remember the most from that summer was when I found out Uncle Shawn was in love with my dad and not in the way I love Maya. I overheard him telling his brother about it and from what he was saying I knew he didn't love my father as a brother. He may have said certain things that he wished he could do to my father that I am currently repressing. I wasn't very sneaky at the time and he caught me listening in. He reassured me that he wasn't going to do anything to break up my parent's marriage because he loves my dad and mom too much to hurt him like that. Just like me, he blames himself for all the fighting.

That's when Cory dropped the essay and started coughing profusely. Okay, how did his then eight-year-old daughter figure out that Shawn was in love with him when he was still completely clueless at the time? Actually, Cory was still oblivious to his own feelings by that point or maybe not. He was absolutely miserable that summer. It was also when he finally came to terms with that despite the fact that he really did love Topanga it wasn't a sexual type of love. Not really.

"I see you got to the point of the essay where your daughter claims that your best friend is in love with you. That was the most absurd thing in the essay other than the fact that she claimed that you two were married" She said snidely. Cory felt like laughing or screaming.

"It's not a claim." Cory said taking the ring that he wore around his neck and placing it on his finger realizing that this woman would need some sort of visual aid to comprehend the truth.

"Shawn loves me and I love him. Topanga and I got divorced because somewhere along the line I started loving her as my best friend and my best friend as the love of my life." He said trying not to cry. Reading Riley's words made him go back to that place.

"You're gay?" She asked an open mouth shock.

"That's what you got from what I just said?" He asked equally surprised.

"But you were married and had a kid?" She asked in shock and Cory felt it was a good time to leave. It wouldn't be good for others to see him arguing in the teacher's lounge.

"I was 20 when I got married, I was 29 when I figured out I was gay. I have never been good at noticing the obvious according to my ex-wife." Cory explained as he gathered up his things.

"But you are a teacher?" She spat out.

"Your point? The fact that I have a husband now instead of a wife has nothing to do of my effectiveness in the classroom." He said quietly as he zipped up his bag.

"You're married?"

"Did you not read my daughter's paper? Or Maya's for that matter because I'm sure that she included the wedding and the fact that Shawn and I are planning to adopt her together." He said sarcastically.

"I just thought that she was collaborating Riley or Riley wrote the paper for her. She's not that bright." She said repeating the same ignorant thing she said earlier.

"Did we not already have this conversation? Maya has a genius level IQ. She just can't read very well or write things down. Fortunately, she has software for that. However, I'm sure she's smarter than you." He spat back.

"God you are an idiot. How could you not know that those two were together? Did you not see how they were acting last summer at the end of the year barbecue?" The art teacher Karen asked mockingly. She was actually a friend of Shawn's and was at their wedding this summer before.

"So everything Riley said about the wedding was true?" She asked ignoring the snide comments from behind her. "Probably but I doubt you'll believe me. If you want to give my daughter, or Maya for that matter, a zero for this assignment for whatever reason, go ahead and I will deal with it with the principal. Actually, Topanga will and you remember how that went last time." He said sharply. "My free period is almost over and I need to get ready for my next class." Cory said leaving the teacher's lounge.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He had just enough time to scan the essay and email it to Topanga and Shawn with a note about the entire encounter with Ms. Ryan. He also decided to send an email to Principal Jones about the entire thing after Topanga wrote him back and told him that Ms. Ryan had already called her with the same accusations. She was scheduling a meeting after school.

He did read the rest of Riley's essay when his eighth grade students took their midterm. Unlike the seventh grade midterm, it was multiple-choice and therefore there was significantly less grading. At least the second part was less emotionally draining. As Ms. Ryan said, Riley was happy with the divorce. She also believed him and Topanga when they said it wasn't her fault. Riley and Maya's attempts at matchmaking made him smile. The part when she says how much she loved having Shawn as her stepfather made him ecstatic. He was worried about getting married again but he felt relieved to know that Riley really did love Shawn and wasn't just telling him that to make him happy.

He received a text message after that from his husband stating that they had a 4 o'clock with the principal and Ms. Ryan. Also included was a transcript of the inappropriate voicemail left. Visual voicemail is a truly wonderful thing and one would think that Ms. Ryan would know better than to leave that type of message on voicemail.

His final class of the day was seventh-grade honors history with Maya. Riley wasn't entirely happy about the fact that she and Maya did not have all the same classes. Despite having a disability, there were some areas Maya was just stronger in such as history and math. Unlike certain colleagues that he will not name, he's okay doing extra things to help students like Maya such as scanning the textbook so her computer can read it to her and reading her exams to her. He could give her the exam after school but Maya doesn't like being treated differently, so he usually does it in class after almost everyone else turns in their papers.

When he gives Maya her exam orally, he did ask her why she didn't warn him about the whole English assignment thing. At the very least, she could have let him read her paper instead of Shawn. Of course, Shawn was the laid-back parent and is a strong believer in artistic integrity.

"I think she sent it to Eric's new girlfriend. She's a screenwriter. Riley wanted someone objective to read it." Maya explained. Of course, she was smiling so Cory is sure that she and Riley were up to something.

"Why do I have a feeling that wasn't the only reason?" He said in a whisper.

"The assignment had to be totally honest. I don't want to lie about who my parents are and I doubt that Riley would. I did talk about the wedding. I was completely honest even including the fact that I went through drug withdrawal before I was even two days old. I now have to see the school psychologist tomorrow unless Shawn convinces her otherwise. Apparently Ms. Ryan thinks I'm a pathological liar and a cheater." Maya said with a frown.

"What exactly did she say to you?" He asked with worry.

"It's nothing." Maya said with a shrug. "The usual stuff. She's mad that I get to type up all my assignments and she is convinced that Shawn or someone else is helping me do everything. She's under the erroneous assumption that because I cannot read the textbook, I am completely unable to comprehend what we're learning. She called me stupid. How exactly did she become a teacher?" Maya asked with a frown.

"I'm not entirely sure." Cory said trying to hide his anger. He was furious. No teacher should ever call a student stupid. "We're meeting with her after school. Let us take care of it. Just concentrate on the test."

"You do realize that most of the other students are listening to my answers." Maya said smirking.

"That's why you have a slightly different exam." He said with a smile before reading the first question.


	2. The parenting styles of the Current and Former Spouses of Cory Matthews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everybody who read the last chapter. Also, thank you to everybody who has left kudos.  
> Judging by the time the story takes place this was supposed to be my winter season story but I’m horrible about getting these stories done before the actual holiday. If I want to do a Valentine’s Day story, I should probably start now. Does it still count if I wrote this story around Christmas? (Proofreading takes forever) Many gingerbread peeps were consumed during the writing of this chapter.  
> This story is now caught up to the version on FF.net. However, I was a bit more direct in this version.  
> A/N: Just to clear up any confusion, technically, Maya is in the seventh grade but she takes some eighth-grade classes in her good areas such as math and science.  
> In this chapter, I’m trying to bridge the multiple back stories that we have for Topanga’s parents into something sort of coherent. Again, I will be disregarding elements of canon that don’t quite make sense.

One Week Earlier  
On paper, Topanga Lawrence-Matthews has one child (She kept her last name after the divorce because she felt more like a Matthews then a Lawrence). However, when her date tonight asked her how many children she had she said three, two girls and one boy. All three were now teenagers (or would be tomorrow) and were driving her crazy with significant others and visits to the principal’s office. Just last week, Josh threatened an eighth grader with castration resulting in her being called into the principal’s office.  
Now, legally Josh was hers. Emotionally, Josh was also hers, which was why she was the one who was called to the principal’s office after the incident with the unnamed eighth-grader. When Allen and Amy died, she was there to pick up the pieces. She read him stories and held him as he cried. She was there to help him adjust from being a virtual only child to having a little sister and moving to a brand-new city.   
They always understood each other. Maybe, it was because she spent so much time around him when he was little but she always felt more like another mother to Josh, then sister-in-law. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for her to transition into that role after Amy died. It was definitely a lot easier for her then it was for Cory to transition from big brother to dad figure.  
Then again, maybe she could identify so much with Josh because she felt like she lost her family too. Her biological family was slightly messed up. When she was little, she did have a family, even if her parents were held over hippies that sold books and made guitars. Then her sister joined the Peace Corps, her parents sold their bookstore, and went ‘corporate’, as Nebula would put it. They stopped caring about her. Eventually, they stopped caring about each other. Now, she hasn’t spoken to either in nearly 5 years.  
As she lost her real family, she gained a new one. Amy became the mom that she lost and Shawn and Eric were her big brothers that made up for her missing sister. Amy was definitely more of a mother to her than her biological mother ever was. It probably hurt her more to lose her than the fact that she was no longer on speaking terms with her actual mother. Amy was the woman who taught her how to be a mom and listened to her panicked phone calls every time Riley coughed. (Now, that she was dealing with teenagers, she really wished she could still make those calls.)  
Out of respect for Amy’s memory, she tried to do that for Josh. It was not easy taking care of an eight-year-old who lost both parents in a horrible car accident. It was made worse by the fact that her husband was having a major existential crisis. It took him losing his parents to realize a lot of things including the fact that she was more his best friend then his wife.  
When she and Cory divorced, Josh was terrified that he was going to lose another mother figure. That was why she told Cory that Josh was staying with her. She said it was because she didn’t want to split the kids up. The truth was she didn’t want her son away from her.  
Teenagers were hard. She knew exactly what Teenage boys were like because she had Shawn Hunter as a best friend and remembered the days of the two-week rule all too well. (Of course, it wasn’t until Riley was a toddler that she figured out the real purpose of the two-week rule.)   
Josh was almost 15 and a complete heartbreaker. She had no choice but to give him another version of the talk when she caught him making out with the 15-year-old Sasha Madison just a few weeks ago. That was awkward. She was extremely grateful that Cory had to do the menstruation talk with Riley because she was in Cancun for the biggest climate change meeting of the year.  
Now what surprised her was she said she had two daughters, but she knows that it's true. She first met Maya when she was five years old and Shawn convinced her to volunteer with him. He said it would help her stress levels. All the children at Katie’s kids were special but she knew Maya was different. She was a female version of Shawn, complete with chasing the little boys around the sandbox. She was definitely a charmer. But she was also on her own most of the time. That was definitely a Shawn thing. She also had a really screwed up family.   
Topanga is not that surprise that Riley and Maya became best friends. It reminded Topanga of her and Shawn before junior high politics and competing for the same guy, without actually realizing it, messed things up. Maybe if she did realize what was happening, she would have bowed out gracefully, completely aware that she couldn’t compete with Shawn and Cory's bond. It was completely impossible. But she wouldn’t have Riley then, so everything worked out for the best.  
She did what she could for her daughter’s best friend including sleepovers and taking on the DC public school system. She also may have convinced her boss David that it would be better to just give Maya a scholarship to Friendship Academy instead of having her fight the DC public school system all the time.   
When Maya’s grandmother died, she wanted to take Maya in but things were a complete mess. Cory and she were fighting all the time and she was starting to lose the purpose in her job. She came to the point where she was convinced that no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t change anything. Thankfully, Shawn stepped in and offered to take care of Maya even though Richard went away. She was thankful for that because she never liked the guy. He may have looked like an older version of Cory but the guy was a complete bastard.   
That summer everything fell apart or maybe it came back together again (at the time she would go with the former but now she will go with the latter) she asked Shawn to leave for the summer and take Riley with him. She just knew things would come to a head and Riley did not need to see that. She also needed to know if her marriage would fall apart if Shawn wasn’t there. She was right on all accounts. It took him 29 years but her husband finally came out and it only took his best friend being in another country for him to do it.  
Cory offered to stay together but neither would be happy. She knew it would be better for Riley if they were two happy households, instead of one miserable one. Despite the angry phone calls from a certain English teacher, that she cannot stand, both Riley and Josh were very well-adjusted. Now years later, she knows that she made the right decision even though it was hard at the time.  
As time goes on, she starts to see Maya as more than just Riley’s best friend. It started when Maya told Topanga the real reason why the girls ran away to the National Zoo. Apparently, Riley overheard Topanga’s conversation with Shawn but not the first part about how she did not want her eight-year-old daughter to see everything fall apart. Topanga knows from her parents own divorce that children see things completely differently than adults. She wouldn’t tell Topanga what she was feeling but she did tell Maya and Maya told her.  
Of course, that goes both ways because there were a lot of things that Maya never told Shawn about. For example, she blamed herself for him being so lonely when she first moved in with him. Despite Shawn trying to hide it, the then nine-year-old knew exactly why Richard disappeared or at least she thought she did and she was convinced that reason was her. Topanga never told Cory or Shawn about the nasty card with dead flowers that she received from Richard essentially telling her that now that he was out-of-the-way the days of her marriage were numbered. Again, the guy was not a nice person. It was obvious he was very jealous of Cory and Shawn’s relationship.   
However she wasn’t like that. Because Topanga wanted her friends happy and she wanted her daughter happy therefore she agreed to play matchmaker for her ex-husband and the guy who was more like a brother to her then her actual sister. Such activities required lots of bonding time and therefore she was very close to Maya.  
Although, it was worth it when she saw the look on Maya’s face when Shawn propose to Cory last year at her 'we passed Question Six' party. Everyone expected her to be angry that her ex-husband was getting remarried but she felt like she was gaining another co-parent in the war of the children. It was now three against three instead of one-on-one. Actually, she felt like she finally accomplished something. All her hard work at a job that she doesn’t always like actually accomplished something good for once.  
Of course, when she explained the entire crazy thing to the sweet guy that Angela set her up with tonight it does not go well. He really just doesn’t get that she is still best friends with her ex-husband or that she’s sort of serves as a mother figure to their foster daughter. He really doesn’t get that she considers her ex-husband’s husband practically a brother. The guy asked for the check when she said that she actually gave away her ex-husband at his wedding and was his best person.  
This is why she ended up arriving back at her apartment at 8:23 PM, mentally vowing to never go out with one of Angela’s blind dates again. She expects to come back to an empty apartment (unless Shawn had a deadline and was hiding in there so he could work in peace). The kids were supposed to be watching a movie at Cory and Shawn’s apartment.  
Instead, she walks into hear Maya dictating her paper in Riley’s bedroom. The girl was so into dictating the paper that she didn’t even realize that Topanga walked in to the apartment, so she just kept on dictating.  
“Everyone was excited for the wedding, especially me. First there was a giant chocolate cake that I got to pick out. I also got to help with the menu and pick out my dress. As the wedding was happening at the Maryland shore, we went with beach appropriate formal.” Maya then continued to give various details about the ceremony, including Eric causing a small fire during the rehearsal dinner. Let’s just say that was another reason why Topanga was chosen as Cory’s best person.  
Topanga actually remember dress shopping. Yes, Shawn actually let his 12-year-old daughter choose the bridesmaid dresses. She also remembered taking her boss Daniel to the wedding with her. The week before, his wife of 20 years ran away with the gardener. Topanga thought it would be good for him to be at the shore. Of course, Maya had to include Daniel being at the wedding in her paper as well as, her own speculations as to why Daniel was at the wedding and they were completely off base. The guy was just a friend.

“The ceremony itself was very important to me for a lot of different reasons.” Maya said finally getting away from the Daniel issue. “However, the most important of all was it symbolize that we were a real family, at least in the eyes of the state of Maryland. I was never part of a real family before.” Topanga’s eyes tear up a little bit and she understands completely what Maya means.   
"Some may not agree with that because I don’t live with my birth mom or father. Maybe they won’t agree with that because I have two fathers and a Mommy Topanga (that’s what Josh calls her) instead of the traditional mom and dad but this is my family.” Maya pauses in her dictation most likely to correct a typo or add punctuation.   
“As I said earlier, I don’t know what happened to my sperm donor nor do I care. The woman who bore me never cared about me. I just had a grandmother who loved me dearly, so much that she made sure I would have a happy home after she died. She knew I would have a happy home with Shawn. I know it wasn’t easy for him taking care of a little girl. I also know every time I speak to a boy he has the sudden urge to threaten him with extreme bodily harm but he’s my father and that’s how he shows that he loves me. That’s what I love the most about him.” Her voice starts to choke up so much as she is dictating that Maya needed to repeat this sentence to the computer twice. She also starts cursing at the computer before she moves on.  
“I was also happy about the wedding because that meant that Cory was going to be my father too and not just because they’re going to actually adopt me. Even when I just thought of him as Riley’s dad he has always been nice to me. He never assumed that I was stupid just because I have trouble reading. He also never saw me as an inconvenience to his 'private time' with Shawn like other guys like Richard ----who will remain nameless.” Maya corrected herself before going on to more of the things she likes about Cory. He was already her favorite teacher. She also talked about how happy she was that Shawn had someone that really loved him.   
"Some may argue that I miss out because I don’t have a ‘real mom’ but I have Riley’s mom. She has been there for me through learning disabilities and grandmother funerals. She was even the one who took me shopping for my first training bra.” She remembered Shawn bagging her to do that for him.   
“This is my family Ms. Ryan. They love me for me, no matter what you think. So I really think you should stop pinching Mr. Matthews because he is already in love with someone else and that person is my father.” Unfortunately, she couldn’t help but laugh and Maya heard her.  
“You’re still supposed to be on your date. I came over here so I could write without everybody hearing what I was going to put in the paper. Cory said it would be okay. How much of that did you hear?” Maya asked as she peaked her head out of the room.   
“Things went badly and I left early. You know you’re welcome here anytime, especially to do homework. Don’t worry; I only heard your personal note to Ms. Ryan.” Topanga lied. “You may not want to antagonize her.”  
“She antagonizes me on a regular basis. I decided to behave in kind and really I don’t like her all over my dad’s husband.” Maya said with annoyance.  
“I understand the thing about Cory, and she still did it even when we were married. She has issues. Are you having problems in her class?” Topanga asked with concern.  
“I have a disability that makes it so I can’t read or write without vast amounts of hard work and software, of course, I’m going to have trouble in an English class.” Maya answered sarcastically. Topanga had a feeling that she wasn’t telling her everything. Topanga has known the girl long enough to know that she has a tendency to keep painful things to herself and obviously something was going on in Ms. Ryan’s class.   
“You know that you can tell me anything. If Ms. Ryan is a problem, I need to know about it. Legally, she is supposed to provide reasonable accommodations for your disability.” Topanga said finally.  
“Ms. Ryan doesn’t think anything is reasonable when it requires her to make the least bit of effort.” Topanga heard Maya mumbled under breath.  
“You’re not going to sue the school again?” Maya asked slightly mortified.  
“No, I will talk to Daniel. He’s on the board.” Maya smirked at that.  
“Okay, why are you smiling?” Topanga asked the girl.  
“Your boss likes you and I know you like him.” Maya said in a singsong voice as if she was talking to Riley about the boys that they were both kind of in love with (by teenager standards).  
“What are you talking about?” Topanga asked acting as if she didn’t hear what Maya said about Daniel earlier.  
“Daniel really likes you. How easy was it for you to get me a scholarship at Friendship Academy? He is always making excuses for lunch meeting, especially after his wife disappeared. Why else would he send the entire family to Tokyo and Oman? He lets Josh, Riley and I call him Daniel. Also unlike most of the other guys you have been dating, you don’t have to explain your unique family situation.” Maya explained using teenager logic.  
“He is my boss.” Topanga said giving her standard excuse.  
“How often do you talk to him on the phone? Wasn’t he sort of your date at my dad’s wedding?” Maya asked raising an eyebrow.  
“He’s also a friend and his wife left him the week before. I was trying to cheer him up.” She said as an excuse  
“According to Josh, dad and Cory said they were always just friends before they added make out privileges. Daniel’s daughter Chloe, who is in my eighth grade math class, says he really likes you and he’s kind of depressed because her mom ran off with the gardener last summer. She says you are the only reason why he has not 'moved into a liquor bottle'.”   
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to respond to it. Although, if Maya was talking to Chloe, there may be more truth to this than Topanga wanted to acknowledge. She knew that the gardener thing was very true. Topanga was the only one in the office that knew the real reason why that particular marriage imploded and she kept it to herself.  
“Why do I have a feeling you brought all this up just so I would stop asking questions about Ms. Ryan?” Topanga asked with a sigh.  
“Because it’s most likely true.” Maya replied with a shrug.  
“I don’t like her that much either, but you need to still give her the respect that any teacher deserves. If you want, I can proofread your paper. I know you’re worried about losing points due to voice recognition errors. Also, I would like to avoid getting called into her office again this year.” The last part was mumbled under her breath.  
“That’s okay. Riley and I decided that we would not allow her parents to read these papers before we give them to Miss Ryan. I think Josh can tell the difference between ‘sense’ and ‘since’, even if I can’t. He said he wouldn’t mind looking over my paper.” Maya quipped.  
“So, I’m considered a parent?” She asked not sure how to take that.  
“You were the one who took me to get a training bra. You’re kind of the closest thing I have to a mom.” She said bringing up the bra thing again.  
“I’ve seen Josh’s spelling tests and I’m not so sure about your faith in him. I won’t force you to edit out anything related to the wedding, although, you probably should tone down any direct comments related to your English teacher.” Topanga said tactfully.  
“So you discovered our ingenious plan to make Miss Ryan stop hitting on Cory.” She wanted to say something along the lines of ‘Miss Ryan would have to walk in on ‘fun Cory Shawn time’ for her to stop but such comments would not be appropriate.  
“I will only correct voice typos. I promise.” Topanga said holding up a hand.  
“Okay, but I’m only agreeing to this because for some reason the computer keeps misspelling Cory. I will email everything to you in the morning.” She said in acquiescence.  
XXX  
On Saturday morning, Topanga read over the essay when Josh was at basketball practice and the girls were in Riley’s room talking with Eric and his girlfriend via Skype. They were going over the plans for a very Matthew-Lawrence-Hunter Christmas or maybe Riley was thanking him for her VIP tickets for Justin Bieber’s next concert that he sent her for her 13th birthday today. The actual birthday party will happen two days before Christmas when all the family where in town but tonight they were doing pizza and ice cream cake as a family.  
She knew that Riley and Maya were planning something big for their first official family Christmas now that Shawn and Cory were married. She just hopes pyrotechnics are not involved. Actually, she just hopes that Eric doesn’t burn the Christmas tree or apartment complex down when he arrives in eight days with said girlfriend. Her only hope is that Eric’s new girlfriend can keep things from getting out of hand. The two apartments are going to be filled with family members and eggnog for almost an entire week.   
As the girls talked with Eric, she started to read. If Topanga did not hear Maya dictate some of the paper she wouldn’t believe it was written by the 13-year-old. It was good, very dark but Maya lived a very dark life. Everything was in there from being abandoned by her mother to her desire to belong to a real family. Topanga’s eyes kept watering as she read.   
She didn’t have to fix too many things, surprisingly. The voice recognition software misspelled everybody’s name and for some reason the software kept getting idea and ideal confused, but she was expecting much worse. She also had to keep her promise not to cut things out that made her uncomfortable and therefore she had to leave all the Daniel stuff in.  
The wedding was a really big part of Maya’s paper. Actually, Cory and Shawn were a major part of the paper, as well as, all the things the girls did to get those oblivious idiots to realize that they were very in love with each other. Cory would love for her to cut that out but Topanga knows that it needs to stay in there.   
However, she figured that she should be nice and let Shawn know all about Maya’s very inappropriate crush on Robin Love. (Yes, that is his real name.) The boy was a 10th grader. Unfortunately, she decided to tell Shawn in person and therefore used her key to go into her ex-husband’s apartment instead of knocking like a sane person or sending a text message. Unfortunately she ended up seeing something that she really didn’t want to see. In front of her was her ex-husband receiving a blowjob from his husband. It was obvious that he was enjoying it. She decided to get out of there as fast as possible. Fortunately, they were too preoccupied to notice her interrupting. She would tell Shawn all about his daughter’s massive crush on a 10th grader on the way to work, if she can talk to him Monday without going completely scarlet.  
Because she walked in on Cory having ‘private time’ with his husband, she decided not to warn him about the impending explosion that will most likely have when Ms. Ryan saw the paper. She’s a good person but she’s not that gracious.  
XXX  
The Present  
“No, my husband is not lying.” Topanga almost yelled at the woman who managed to give her headache without even being in the same state. The crazy woman called her 15 minutes ago and her new assistant assumed it was best to put her phone call through, even though she was in the middle of the meeting with her boss Daniel. Okay, it was really a working lunch with an emphasis on the lunch aspect of it but really she should not have interrupted.  
“Yes, he is married. Yes, he is married to another man. Yes, I really did serve as the best person at his wedding.” Cory asked her because he wanted to avoid Eric burning down the beach. Jack came from Angola to be Shawn’s best person. Angela served as one of the bridesmaids.  
“But he left you for someone else. How could you do that?” Ms. Ryan asked her scandalized.  
“I’m not explaining any of this to you.” She said with an irritated sigh. “My personal life is not your concern, even if you do work with my ex-husband. I’m only clarifying this because you accused one of my children of being a liar and the other one of cheating.” At that point, Topanga was on the verge of screaming.  
“You only have one daughter in my class.” Ms. Ryan said obviously not getting it. “Of course, she is going to lie in my class because you and your husband are obviously covering for her.” Ms. Ryan said sounding slightly crazy.  
At that point, Topanga was mentally going over the rules to have somebody committed in Maryland. Her boss Daniel was trying to not laugh.  
“Maya did not cheat on her essay. I heard her dictate the essay. I read it myself and I can attest to the truthfulness of everything and the fact that she actually wrote it.” Ms. Ryan tried to interrupt her again but Topanga felt it was best to just hang up the phone before she did something stupid.   
“God, I hate that woman.” Topanga said looking at Daniel as she threw her salad container in the trash.  
“Chloe said something similar last year when her essay landed her in the school counselor’s office.” Topanga just shook her head.  
“Nice to know she doesn’t just do this to my children.” She mumbled as she took a drink of water.  
“What did the girls do this time that incurred the wrath of Ms. Ryan?” Daniel asked cautiously.   
“They told the truth.” Topanga said with a frustrated sigh.  
“I thought that was a requirement of this assignment.” Daniel said sarcastically. That’s when she explained the whole situation with Ms. Ryan including the fact that she has been hitting on Cory since way before the divorce.  
“So essentially your former husband’s colleague has been trying to sleep with him since before the divorce and can’t accept the fact that he’s now married again. So therefore, she thinks everybody is lying.” Daniel summarized with a snicker.  
“Pretty much.” Topanga said fighting the urge to put her head down on her desk.  
“I will call Katrina now.” He said using Principal Jones’ first name. “I’m sure she can meet with you, Cory, and Shawn today.” She knew this needed to go to the principal but at that point she felt she should just let Cory handle it. That was mostly because she didn’t want to run the risk of punching out the woman. She has already threatened her with physical violence on more than one occasion.  
“That’s really not necessary.” She started just as two separate messages showed up in her inbox. One was the transcript of a voicemail that Ms. Ryan left for Shawn, the other was Cory’s account of what happened in the teacher’s lounge.  
“On second thought, I think it is necessary. Check your iPad.” She said forwarding her boss the messages. “I was really hoping for a peaceful Christmas season despite having my apartment taken over by teenagers and extended family.” She said putting her head down on the desk.  
“It’s only peaceful when your children are in another country like my children will be this year. She who will not be named decided that she wants to be a mom for Christmas this year. I plan to be spending the holiday at the W Hotel consuming vast quantities of alcohol.” If she didn’t know him so well she would think that he was joking but that probably was his plan for Christmas 2013.  
“I think I will keep the crazy kids and be thankful that Cory and I are still close enough that we don’t need to do separate holidays.” She said with half a smile, happy that she and Cory still have a pretty good relationship.  
“We all can’t be as lucky as you, hence the alcohol and staying in a hotel so I don’t realize how empty the house is.” Daniel said sadly.  
“Or you could come over to a very Matthew-Lawrence-Hunter Christmas. There is volunteer work at Katie’s Kids followed by Cory burning the turkey and Eric burning down the Christmas tree. Also, the girls do horrible things with mistletoe to get people to randomly make out. It was very interesting the Christmas after the divorce when Cory was still terrified of the fact he was sort of in love with Shawn.” She explained.  
“That must’ve been painful.” Daniel said as he took a drink of his coffee.  
“Actually, it was funny. Cory just kissed him on the cheek and Shawn went Crimson.” She laughed at the memory.  
“I wish I had your divorce.” He said wistfully. “We are still fighting over the China.”  
“It probably helps that my husband turned out to be gay and in love with someone I actually like. Although, Shawn’s freak out at my wedding probably should have been a tipoff.” Topanga mumbled to herself.  
“Better than the gardener?” Daniel asked.  
“Much better.”  
XXx  
Who the hell does that crazy woman think she is, accusing his daughters of cheating and lying? Shawn was furious when he first heard the message in his voicemail but mostly because Ms. Ryan ignored the fact that Maya was his daughter.  
Maya may not be his child by blood but she was the child of his heart. She couldn’t be more like him if they shared any DNA. Shawn just knew there was something special about this girl when he first met her a little over eight years ago. He just moved to the DC area and needed to preoccupy his self to keep them from thinking about why he started applying to jobs in the DC area as soon as he found out that Topanga was getting job offers in the area.   
The kindergartner couldn’t read but she could tell a good story. At the time, she was making her own Sesame Street story ideas. She was writing a song for Cookie Monster. As she got older and started struggling with school, he just knew there was something special about her. She was smarter than anybody ever gave her credit for.   
Thanks to Cory forcing him to have a backup plan in case being a writer did not work out, he could recognize the signs of a learning disability a mile away. Shawn tried to help because she reminded him so much of himself. The fact that she was instantly drawn to Riley solidified that fact. The girl was a mix between Cory and Topanga, so it made perfect sense to him.  
In addition to having similar taste in friends and struggling with school work, they both dealt with moms that ran away. They both lost their only stable parental figure at a young age. At least he was 19, almost 20, when his father died. Maya was barely 8 years old when she lost her grandmother to cancer. ‘Grandmother’ was their biological relationship but Mildred was her mother. She was a strong woman to survive everything she dealt with. Her husband left long ago. Her oldest son died in Iraq and her middle daughter was stationed in Afghanistan.   
The youngest, Maya’s mother, was the one who took a bad road. The drugs got worse after her brother died and she abandoned Maya to be raised by her mother. Shawn didn’t know where she was anymore but no one did. They didn’t even know where to find her when her mother died. Needless to say, she couldn’t exactly take care of an eight-year-old kid, let alone one that had special needs.   
Shawn was shocked when Mildred asked him to raise Maya after she died. At that point, Shawn thought the closest he would ever get to fatherhood was babysitting Riley and Josh. Angela was the only woman he ever loved but they just weren’t compatible. She loved to travel the world and he wanted a home. He craved stability. It makes sense to him that she was in the Foreign Service now. But he could never take that life of packing up every couple years and leaving everything behind. To Angela, it was normal.  
Of course, Angela knew him better than he knew himself and said it was not the white picket fence suburbia life he craved but rather the stability of Cory. Because Cory was already happily married at that point, he didn’t think that Angela meant it the way she did, even if she knew that he was the equal opportunity type. Cory didn’t even know that until Riley was a toddler.  
Also, his then boyfriend Richard wasn’t exactly the family type and believed the best thing about being gay was you would never have to worry about children. He didn’t like Shawn’s volunteer work in Anacostia and he really wasn’t happy when his fellow volunteer Sharon convinced him to become a certified foster parent just in case. Thinking back on it now, he wondered if she knew about the Maya situation. By that point, Shawn was well aware that if he wanted to stay with Richard, children were not going to happen. (According to Angela, the only reason why he was with Richard was because he looked like an older version of Cory.)  
Than he was asked to take care of Maya on her grandmother’s death bed and things changed. It was an easy choice for him to make, especially because Riley was so happy. Actually, everybody was happy. Topanga hugged him. He wanted Maya. He wanted a family. He also wanted somebody that actually loved him and it wasn’t going to be Richard. He would be happy with someone that actually liked him and not the person that they wanted to make him into. That was never going to be Richard.   
Becoming a single-parent was an interesting experience. There are so many things he doesn’t know about young girls. Thankfully he had Topanga and Cory. Also, Angela was in the country for Japanese training, which was a really big help. So he wasn’t completely alone.   
Also, because Angela was there she felt it was time for her to push the Cory issue. When he realized that the only time he was happy was when he was hanging out with his best friend he was forced to realize that he was completely in love with a married man and had no idea what to do. It became even more complicated when everybody but Cory realized that his marriage was coming undone. Of course, unlike Topanga, Shawn is not aware he was a major contributing factor and that there was the slightest possibility that Cory may return his feelings.  
His normal response when things become overwhelming was to run away. This time he ran away to Angola with children in tow for his brother’s wedding. The children came with him because Topanga asked him to provide a break and a safe haven. If it wasn’t for the wedding he would find some other excuse. Maybe if he left everything would be okay and the way it was before when he returned.  
Eventually, everything was okay, or became okay, but it wasn’t the same. Cory and Topanga broke up in the most amicable way possible. They didn’t even fight about wedding presents.   
He was expecting to lose one of his friends in this fiasco but he didn’t. Cory moved in with him without much of a discussion and six months after that Topanga was telling him that her ex-husband was into him. They took the subway together every morning because their offices were only three blocks from each other and he didn’t like the idea of her walking around alone. You’ll be amazed what you talk about when stuck on Metro. They definitely got close and Topanga had a tendency to bring things up that he wouldn’t talk about otherwise during these times. When you’re stuck on a tiny subway car so filled with people that it resembles a can of sardines, you can not exactly run away when the object of your affections’ ex-wife starts asking about your intentions.   
Somehow on one of these morning commutes, she got Shawn to confess to the fact that he’s had a crush on his best friend since puberty. She is not angry or at least she’s not angry at him. She is angry at herself for not seeing that earlier or at least before the wedding. Of course, her reaction initially was to give him a hug and tell him everything would be okay. Then she shocked him by telling Shawn that she was okay with him pursuing Cory.  
Of course, nothing happened until that summer when Topanga’s job allowed her to fly her entire family out to Japan and apparently he was family. He’s kind of surprised by what happened. The whole thing involved lots of alcohol, meddling children, and former significant others that know him and Cory too well. He will never forget that first kiss. It was rough and hard but gentle at the same time. The air seemed to stand still in his heart stopped for a moment. He had kissed a lot of people by that point but he never felt something that powerful before.  
The whole experience was terrifying because almost a decade after she said it, Shawn absolutely understands what Angela meant back then. He wasn’t looking for a home, he already had it and that home was Cory. It always had been. It took a little while before the two were completely together. Then even longer for him to pop the question and it had nothing to do with the passage of Question Six. He was just terrified of losing his home.  
Although, according to what he was reading on his phone Maya understood that all too well. Also, apparently she and Riley did a lot of scheming to get the two together. Now, he understands why the two were left alone so often right after the divorce. Maya wanted to make him happy so he wouldn’t get rid of her. Reading that in her biography broke his heart.   
Riley’s biography was very similar to Maya’s except she left out declarations of love for Justin Bieber. Although, Maya did declare her undying love for Robin Love. The guy was in the 10th grade but thankfully is still 15 because he’s another super genius scholarship kid. He’s one of Josh’s basketball friends and spent way too much time around his 13-year-old daughter for Shawn’s personal taste. He knows all too well what 15-year-old boys are like.  
“Seriously, why did you not warn me about how bad her crush on Robin Love is? The guy is in the 10th grade. Thankfully, he is nice but he is too old for her.” He said to Topanga as she slid into the seat next to him for the 30 minute cab ride to Friendship Academy in pre-rush-hour traffic. At least, he hopes it is just 30 minutes. Despite the fact that he will be losing his job come January, his boss would not let him leave any earlier than 3:30.   
He hasn’t told anybody yet about losing his job. As he learned from his childhood, getting laid off at Christmas is not fun for anyone. Maya doesn’t ask for much but he still wants to give her the type of life that he did not have growing up. Of course, giving her a stable home would be doing just that despite how much she had materially.  
“I knew I forgot to tell you something Monday. I tried to Saturday but you and Cory were occupied.” She said sheepishly.  
“Saturday morning before the birthday dinner?” He asked sensing a potentially embarrassing situation.  
“Yes. I should’ve knocked or just send the text message.” She said blushing this time.  
“Sorry.” He apologized. He was completely aware that, at the very least, Topanga caught him going down on Cory. He was going to tell Cory about being laid off and instead they got distracted. The best way to break bad news to Cory is with sex and he sort of forgot to break the bad news afterwards. That’s why he asked Topanga to take the kids tonight so he can try again.  
“Don’t apologize. I still should have said something later.” She told him.  
“It was probably better that we didn’t know. I wasn’t going to tell Maya, or Riley for that matter to change their papers just because Cory is afraid to be completely out where he works.” He said this because he despises when other people tell him to change his articles just to keep angry message board posts to a minimum.  
“I think it’s more that he wants to avoid conflict. I wasn’t going to tell Cory about that anyway. However, you did need to know about the 10th grader.” She said with a sigh.  
“Angela says this is God’s way of getting back at me for the two week rule.” Seriously he hopes that none of the things he did in high school to the majority of the female population (and one guy) are done with his daughter or rather daughters. Because let’s be honest, Riley was his daughter too.  
“They say the coolest playas and foulest heart breakers in the world, God get’s you back, he makes you have precious little girls.”Topanga said in a singsong voice practically quoting song lyrics.  
“You’re paraphrasing Nas?” He asked, sort of surprised.   
“Daniel had that song on repeat a lot, especially after the incident with his oldest daughter Mercedes in the Mercedes.” Topanga explained going scarlet again. He was asked about why she was spending so much time with her boss in his car but he wanted her to forget all about Saturday. Antagonizing her would not do that. Instead, he just raised an eyebrow before asking for clarification.  
“Was this the thing with the fire hydrant?” He asked vaguely remembering Maya saying something about it. She was almost friends with Daniel’s eighth-grade daughter Chloe but that was mostly because the girl was in desperate need of a math tutor and they were in the same class.  
“The thing with a college boy in the back of the Mercedes.” Topanga clarified and that explains why she was so red.  
“Not good.”  
“Did you read Riley’s essay?” Topanga asked tentatively.  
“Yes, she’s in love with Justin Bieber and Jorge Cruz. You need to be worried about that last part. Also, do you really cry every night back then?” That was the part that worried him. He hated the thought of causing her pain.  
“I will answer that question, if you explain why you neglected to tell Cory that you may be losing your job.” He forgot that Riley put that in there. How she knew that he was worried about losing his job, he will never know.  
“There is no longer a ‘maybe’ about it. I found out for sure Friday that I will not be one of the eight people staying on when we make the digital transition. I tried to tell Cory Saturday and…” He trailed off smirking.  
“You got distracted.” She said blushing again.  
“Very distracted. I was going to try again tonight.” He said sadly.  
“You’ll find another job. You’re good at what you do.” She said actually hugging him.  
“Except, the publishing industry is dying. Everybody is going digital.” He said as he pulled away.  
“There’s always teaching. You’re good with children.” She suggested  
“No, I’m just good at hiding my fear. So what about you and the crying?” He asked again.  
“Didn’t we have this conversation a few years ago after the divorce?” She said avoiding his question  
“No, you shocked me by giving me your permission to date your ex-husband. If we were not trapped by three football players and a woman paying way too much attention to her phone, I may have tried to get out of there.” He said honestly.  
“The thing with Cory wasn’t the only reason why I was crying. There was a lot going on at the time. I just started a new job that was not exactly what I thought it would be, moving to another state, Alan and Amy dying, and taking care of an eight-year-old who lost both his parents tragically. My husband becoming more distant and only happy when he was around you which was just one more thing.” She said sadly.  
“It was just overwhelming?” He prompted.  
“Pretty much. Things are better now. I’m starting to not hate my job again. The work on question six helped a lot. I now have my best friend back. I also think I can successfully parent three teenagers without resorting to hiding.” She said cheerily.  
“It’s easier when there is three of us. Now we just need to focus on the Jorge Cruz problem.” He said with a sigh.  
“I thought that you would be more worried about Robin?” Topanga asked slightly confused.  
“Did you know that Jorge and Robin are the same age? Jorge was held back a year, probably for sports, and Robin was skipped ahead and his birthday is two days before the cutoff. Also, Cory overheard Jorge say that he would like to have Riley do to him what you most likely walked in on Saturday. Robin has yet to say anything similar.” Shawn really did not like Jorge.   
“Good point.”  
XXX  
They arrived at the school in time to see Jorge talking to Riley. They were both easily able to scare the guy off before Topanga went to find coffee to calm down.  
“Why did you do that?” Riley asked slightly annoyed as they walked into Cory’s classroom.  
“Stepdad’s prerogative.” He said smirking. “I don’t like that guy. He is interested in one thing and it’s not your conversational skills.” Shawn said darkly.  
“You’re being paranoid. I don’t know why you’re being so protective. Angela told me all sorts of stories about you in high school and junior high. Dose the two week rule mean anything to you?” Riley asked with anger. Why does everyone keep bringing that up?  
“It took me a while to figure out why I didn’t want to stay with a girl for more than two weeks. Also, I wouldn’t want you to date a guy like me and I think Jorge is worse.” He said not wanting to tell Riley exactly what Jorge said about her. He wants to keep her as innocent as possible but he also remembers that at least one junior high student every year ends up pregnant at the ultra-posh Academy. He doesn’t want it to be either of his daughters.  
“I don’t know. According to Angela you were the hottest boy in the entire high school and you actually are a nice person. Also, I think you would make a much better teacher than Ms. Ryan.” She said trying to flatter him.  
“That’s only because I am sane.” He mumbled to himself.  
“I’m nice now but not back then. Was the entire thing with the essay an attempt to get rid of Ms. Ryan?” He asked knowing his stepdaughter just a little too well.  
“I know you’re not happy about her hitting on dad all the time.”  
“Yes, but your dad’s not interested at all. You know that too.” He told her. He knew he had nothing to worry about because Cory was very gay with a Topanga only exception.  
“I still don’t like it. I don’t like how she talks about you. I really don’t like how she treats Maya.” So that’s what this was really about.  
“How exactly does she treat Maya?” Shawn asked Riley with concern.  
“She told me not to say anything.” Riley said quickly.  
“That tells me something’s going on. How bad is it? ”He asked taking a deep breath.  
“Really bad.” Riley said before telling him about an incident three weeks ago where his daughter spent most of lunch crying in the bathroom because her English teacher said she was stupid along with other expletives. She also told him all about her plan to get rid of Ms. Ryan.  
XXXX

“I knew we should have read her essay.” Cory said as soon as he sees Topanga walk into Ms. Jones’s office. She quickly hands him a cup of coffee that she got from the teacher’s lounge. Apparently a private school like this has one of those machines that lets you make whatever you want instead of a standard Mr. Coffee.   
“You are the best ex-wife ever.” Cory said taking a drink.  
“I try.” She said sitting next to him. “I also tried to get Riley to let me read her paper after I read Maya’s essay. She wasn’t going to let us.”   
“You raised Riley to be too independent.” Cory said after a moment.  
“We raised Riley to be independent,” all three of us. She adds the last part mentally but she knows it’s true.  
“I still think it’s all you.” Cory said taking another drink of his coffee. Topanga doesn’t agree but she doesn’t say anything.  
“How exactly did you get Maya to let you see her paper?” Cory asked.  
“She’s paranoid about typos and I think that Ms. Ryan is putting her work under a microscope because of her special needs. I also promised not to change anything. Although, I did convince her to take out anything that directly antagonized Ms. Ryan. Apparently she is completely in love with Robin Love.” Cory just put his head in his hands at that.  
“Oh.” Cory said looking into his coffee cup. “He’s in the 10th grade!”  
“I know. Your husband said we should be more worried about Jorge. Don’t worry, Shawn terrified him when we were coming into the building. He is currently talking with Riley about everything.” Of the three, Shawn was the one most likely to get the full truth from Riley. He gets to play the cool step-dad card even after he scared off Riley’s crush.   
“See, this is why I love my husband. It is much easier when there’s three of us.” Cory said smiling.  
“A lot easier. Although, I have a feeling we probably would have ended up waiting for Principal Jones no matter what. If we did see this ahead of time would we had forced her to change it?” Topanga asked. “On the way here, Shawn and I both agreed that we wouldn’t have changed anything. Although, we both know you always worry about what other people think about you. The entire roller coaster incident comes to mind.” She said with a smirk.  
“I’m not overly concerned with what people think and I’ve been out since that therapy session to anybody that actually matters. I just want to be seen as the best history teacher ever at Friendship Academy not as the gay teacher. No, I would not have changed either girls’ paper. The assignment was to write a truthful account of your personal history. This is Riley and Maya’s truth even if it’s more truthful than I’m comfortable with. According to the teacher’s lounge, Ms. Ryan reacts badly to one student’s history every year. Personally, I was expecting to be called in no matter what Maya included. I was in the room when she dictated the stuff about her mom. It was intense. She started crying so hard that she stopped dictating three times.” Topanga remember that part of the paper and agreed with her ex-husband.  
“Daniel said the same thing. Last year she suggested that Chloe see the school psychologist. Personally, I think she was just more upset about realizing that you are off the market.” Topanga said with another smirk.  
“So, it is Daniel now?” Cory asked raising an eyebrow.  
“Yes and did she tell you that she invited him for Christmas?” Shawn said coming in and kissing Cory gently on the lips. Riley was behind him rolling her eyes.  
“Now, if you did this in front of Ms. Ryan I wouldn’t be in trouble for telling the truth.” Riley mumbled under breath.  
“I have a feeling that this meeting would have happened regardless.” Ms. Jones said as she walked into the room with Ms. Ryan behind her.  
“I thought this was supposed to be a meeting between myself and just Riley’s parents. I don’t know why Mister Hunter is here. Also, I don’t think Riley should be here at the moment.” Ms. Ryan said as she took the only empty seat in the room.  
“Because he’s my husband, therefore he gets to be here.” Cory said forcefully, causing Ms. Ryan to make a face.  
“You know that we allow stepparents to have a very active role in the lives of their children.” Ms. Jones reminded her with a look of annoyance on her face.  
“They’re actually married!” Ms. Ryan said shocked.  
“That sort of thing is legal in Maryland and The District now.” Shawn retorted.  
“Also after talking to Riley I realize this meeting is more about my daughter Maya then anything else.”  
“She is your foster child not your real daughter.” As soon as Ms. Ryan said it, she just knew Shawn was going to go off. She and Cory each grabbed a hand to keep him from physically attacking the woman.  
“She is my daughter and from what I’ve been told, you have been nasty to her because of her disability.” Shawn said in a sharp voice, just an octet below yelling. “Riley please tell everyone what you told me earlier.”  
“Do I have to?” Riley asked almost pleading with Shawn.  
“Yes.” He said simply.  
“Okay, I’m not that happy with Ms. Ryan for constantly hitting on my dad, even though he’s been in a committed relationship for all but about nine months during their acquaintance. However, I’m more upset about the way that she’s been treating Maya in class.” Riley explained.  
“What has been going on?” Principal Jones asked with concern.  
“You’re actually going to believe anything that habitual liar has to say. It’s just going to be my word against hers.” She spat out.  
“My mom’s a lawyer and she used to take me with her to study groups when I was little. I know to always to back myself up with hard evidence. IPhones are wonderful.” That’s when Riley handed over Maya’s phone with a video of Ms. Ryan’s class. It had to be taken today because Maya was wearing the same outfit from breakfast. There was Ms. Ryan saying some pretty nasty things to Maya, as some students just laughed. She was shocked that Maya didn’t break down in tears after that. According to Riley, she did in the bathroom later.  
“I don’t want her anywhere near my daughter.” Topanga said after Riley was done speaking.  
“I didn’t do anything to your little girl, just the little orphan girl that shouldn’t be at the school in the first place.” Ms. Ryan spat out bitterly.  
“I’m talking about Maya. Trust me she deserves to be here more than 99% of the students here, my other daughter included.” Topanga said barely keeping her anger in check.  
“I agree with you Ms. Matthews. I need a few minutes to speak to Ms. Ryan alone. Cory if you can take your family to your classroom, I will speak to you in a few minutes.” Ms. Jones seemed so angry that Topanga didn’t even bother to correct her about the last name. Besides, she rather be called Ms. Matthews then Ms. Lawrence because she still is a Matthews despite the divorce papers.  
XXX  
Riley knew she was in serious trouble by the fact that not one of her parents said a single word as they walked back to the classroom. Considering there were three people involved that was quite a feat. Shawn excused himself when they passed by Mr. Robbins’s classroom to get Maya.  
“If Ms. Ryan was being so bad to Maya why didn’t you say anything to any of us?” Her dad asked looking directly at her.  
“Maya told me not to.” Her mom looked at her father for a moment as they nodded at each other.  
“Didn’t we have a conversation when you were younger about how there are certain secrets between friends that you shouldn’t keep? Maya being verbally abused by a teacher qualified as one of those things you don’t keep to yourself.” Her father chastised. He is very unhappy at the moment.  
“So I’m in trouble for telling the truth?” Riley asked innocently.  
“You’re in trouble for not telling us that there was a problem.” Her mother explained. “This was something that your father, Shawn, and I should have handled, not you.”  
“Grounded?” She looked up to see both parents nodding yes. Yet, as they took away her Facebook, cell phone, and non-academic computer privileges she felt it was still worth it.  
XXX  
There are moments as a parent where one isn’t exactly sure what to say or do. Actually, he was mostly worried about the fact that Maya didn’t feel comfortable letting him know that she was being bullied by her English teacher (That was the only way to describe what the supposed teacher was doing to his daughter). He stood outside the science classroom as her teacher read Maya her test. He was a little rusty on eighth grade science but he is sure that she got most of the questions right.  
He can’t believe Maya kept this from him but then again this was something he would’ve done. If he was having problems with a teacher, he wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t trust anyone except for Cory and maybe Mister Feeney. He couldn’t be that upset. Maya really was his daughter. They were too much alike for his own sanity. He was broken out of his thoughts by Ms. Jones walking up to him.   
"I’m waiting for Maya to finish her science test." He said motioning to the occupied classroom.  
"Mr. Robbins is really good about that sort of thing. At least, I don't have to worry about him not accommodating students’ unique needs." That last part was mumbled under her breath.  
"I don’t want Maya to go back to Ms. Ryan’s classroom next year, even if I have to pull her out of the school.” Shawn threatened. Maya would be better off in the public school system then with a poisonous teacher liked Ms. Ryan. She was like the anti-Cory. Also, home schooling was an option.   
“Unlike a lot of the other parents at the school, I’ve actually had some teaching experience and pretty sure calling that students stupid is on the list of things not to do in the classroom. There’s no excuse for what she did.”  
"I think you’re right and she will be on administrative leave for the near future." He smiled at that. "When did you teach?” She asked after a moment.  
“Back in New York before I got my job at Politics daily. I may go back to it now that the paper is transitioning to digital only.” He said putting the idea out there that he was thinking about getting into teaching again. It wouldn't hurt.  
“Please tell me you are an English teacher and you have a license to teach in Maryland?” She almost sounded desperate.  
“Yes and for DC too. I work with Katie’s Kids in Anacostia and your predecessor always had a horrible time getting English substitute teachers. I have filled in in a few times for Ms. Ryan over the years." Ms. Jones just smiled at his response.  
“How do you feel about doing it permanently?”  
To be concluded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m planning one more short chapter to finish off this arc. I’m also going to do another short story in this universe if there is a desire. This story is essentially a pilot. I'm willing to do prequels. Let me know what you want to see.


	3. Part three: When brilliant plans backfire or maybe not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed/left comments for the last chapter. Also, thank you to everybody who left kudos for this story or added it to your favorites. This is the final chapter.   
> I figured I needed to get this out before they keep posting more about the casting decisions for the real show and I get depressed. As I predicted two months ago, what I’m writing would never end up on the Disney Channel. Since I started writing this before the casting of Maya, in this story she is of African, European, Hispanic, and Native American ancestry because the story does take place in the DC Metro and this is a very diverse place. I want my stories to be grounded in reality whenever possible and I like to add a bit of diversity with my OCs. Normally, I decide what ethnicity I want my original characters to be and never bring it up directly but since I’m going so against what they’re doing, I feel I have to mention it. Actually, it’s probably just best to assume all my OCs are a mixture of Asian, African, European, and Native American ancestry unless otherwise stated. However, the girl that they cast as Maya for the actual pilot looks exactly how I imagined what Riley would look like.

It was the first day of classes after winter break and Riley was currently rereading her ‘how I spent my winter break’ essay one last time before she had to turn it into whoever was taking over Ms. Ryan’s class. She really didn’t want to spend her break working on the stupid thing, especially in light of the fact that she knew they would have a substitute for a few weeks until the situation was fixed (hopefully with Ms. Ryan’s firing).

According to Chloe Davis, her dad and the rest of the board were planning to make it so that Ms. Ryan wouldn’t be able to teach in any state in the Beltway region again. Apparently, bullying a student was really bad, especially when said student was the sort of daughter of a woman that one of the board members had a tiny crush on. (Just like with her father, Riley can tell when somebody has a crush on her mom. Unlike Ms. Ryan, Mr. Davis is a decent person, even if she doesn’t like his stuck up daughter Mercedes.)

She spoke with Chloe about the entire thing when she came to a very Matthew-Hunter-Lawrence Christmas with her father. After her mom ignored her for the first three days of winter break, so she could have quality time with her new flavor of the week, Chloe hopped on the first plane back to DC without telling her. The woman didn’t even realize she was missing for almost an entire day. In contrast, when she and Maya ran away to the zoo that one time her dad and Shawn realized that they were gone after less than 20 minutes. Riley almost felt sorry for her.

Riley didn’t like Chloe in the past because she felt the girl was trying to take her best friend from her, but now that she was an ally in the fight to get her mom a decent boyfriend, they were starting to get along because neither wanted their parents with somebody they can’t stand. At this point, they were mostly sharing intelligence. Chloe also helped with operation mistletoe 2013. They were successfully able to get Mr. Davis to kiss her mom more than once.

That was the highlight of her 'how I spent my winter break' essay in her opinion considering she was sort of grounded for not telling her parents about the Maya thing and sneaking on her Facebook to talk to Jorge even though she was told not to. The other highlight included Uncle Eric popping the question to the girlfriend as he managed to light the Christmas tree on fire (again). Thankfully her dad had the fire extinguisher ready. There was also a Christmas morning Skype call from Shawn’s brother telling him that he was going to be an uncle for real. He and his wife were expecting their first child in July. This conversation was to explain why Shawn received five plane tickets to Angola for Christmas. This meant she would be spending another summer in Angola.

At least, she had great material for the essay Shawn was making her and Maya work on anyway. He said that whoever was taking over for Ms. Ryan would have to go by her lesson plans, for at least a few weeks until he or she had an idea what they were doing. He also said that all the other students would not be aware that Ms. Ryan wasn’t coming back and they would be doing theirs.

Obviously, Uncle Shawn did not understand how fast gossip travels at friendship Academy. According to Maya, who was actually able to get on Facebook and twitter, everybody with an IQ over 90 knew that her dad was married to her ‘uncle’ Shawn two days after Mrs. Ryan’s freak out. She tried arguing that with Shawn but he made her do her essay anyway. There are some moments when she really doesn’t like Shawn at all. Normally, that’s when he tries to scare off Jorge or any other guy but this was also one of those moments.

Even though she was currently banned from Facebook, twitter, and any electronic device with an Internet connection for nonacademic purposes, there were still other things she rather be doing than writing a paper about how she was kept from going anywhere near Jorge for the two weeks by her three parents, her aunt and uncle, and her pseudo-big brother. Angela was the only one who sort of supported her, until Shawn told her something that changed her mind. Then she ended up listening to Angela tell her all about her first time with a guy who never called her again, two months before she moved to Philadelphia. Any sex-related talk is uncomfortable even if it’s coming from your stepdad’s former girlfriend, also known as your godmother. Actually, that makes it worse. Those words of advice were not going to be in the essay. Actually, she was trying to burn that conversation from her mind permanently.

Of course, now that she sees Shawn walking into the classroom she now knows why he made her work on her essay. She should’ve known Shawn was taking over the class, at least temporarily, because he would never make Maya do unnecessary dictation. It took her BFF twice as long to write her papers anyway and Shawn liked for Maya to have time to do fun teenager things. Considering the expression on Maya’s face she obviously had no clue that her dad was taking over the class. She looked mortified. Riley felt the same way but she was already used to her dad being a faculty member. Besides the potential social humiliation was worth not having to deal with Ms. Ryan.

“My name is Mr. Matthews-Hunter and I am your new English teacher. For those of you who do not have parents or a friend with a parent on the Board of Directors or don’t follow Chloe Davis on twitter, Ms. Ryan will not be back this semester.” The fact that the class broke out into actual cheering pretty much illustrated how well hated Ms. Ryan really was. Even her teacher’s pet, Christie Lawrence (thankfully, no relation) was smiling. That’s never a good sign.

“I heard she tried to -- that she propositioned Mr. Matthews in the teacher’s lounge and his wife got really angry and had her ‘friend’ on the board fire her.” Tiffany Saaied, also known as the biggest gossip in the seventh grade, was the one that said this to the entire class. Riley had a good idea what she really wanted to say. Of course, this was Tiffany talking and she still had no idea that Mr. Matthews was her father. Apparently, the three last names are still throwing her off. Now that her dad is going by his married last name of Matthews-Hunter that probably wasn’t going to last much longer. Although, Tiffany still thought her parents were married, so it probably will take her a little while. Shawn just rolled his eyes and did not even bother to give a verbal response.

“It was more than a proposition. I heard she actually got a hand down his pants before he pushed her away.” Said Cameron, another one of Tiffany’s stuck up country club friends.

 

“You know it’s not good to gossip like this.” Said Jordan, one of the scholarship kids that was not horrible to her. He was a bit of a nerd and Maya’s academic rival but he was cool in a Bill Gates sort of way. “Especially, when the gossip is untrue. You were here on the last day of classes where Ms. Ryan called Maya certain words that I can’t repeat. If I remember correctly, you and Tiffany were participating. That’s probably why she’s not back. Also, Mr. Matthews has a husband; although, I guess it’s Mr. Matthews-Hunter now.” Did she mentioned that Jordan’s mom happened to be the caterer for the wedding and he was one of her few classmates that knew for sure that her dad was married again before the Ms. Ryan fiasco.

This revelation was followed by six “oh my God, he is gay,” four “but wasn’t he married to a woman,” three “come on, how could you not know”, two ‘do you not keep up with Chloe Davis’ twitter account,’ and one “you owe me 20 bucks, I knew he was married to a guy.” Shawn didn’t say anything, although he was trying to keep from snickering. This is why he is going to be so much better than Ms. Ryan, even if this was going to be social suicide. She will not have any friends besides Maya until high school.

“You can gossip about Ms. Ryan on your own time. I’m here to actually teach this class. I’m sure some of you have heard stories about me covering from Ms. Ryan in the past from your older friends or siblings. Yes, I do know what I’m doing.” Shawn told everyone.

“That’s because you’re not crazy.” Jordan said under breath.

“My goal is for you to actually learn something in this class. Since my daughter is in this class, I know what you’re doing. So don’t even try to lie to me.” At that the students who were calling Maya names last week sunk down in their seats. “Don’t even think about trying to convince me that you guys are watching movies for the next 18 weeks. I know better.” That’s when Tiffany raised her hand.

“Does this mean that we had to do that silly ‘how I spent my Christmas vacation’ essay anyway? I didn’t do mine because my mom said Ms. Ryan wouldn’t be coming back.” Riley personally doubted Tiffany would have done it anyway. She rarely does any of her homework yet her grade was probably higher than Maya’s grade was in this class.

“Yes, but I’m going to give everybody three more days. However, anybody who turns in their essay today will receive 15 bonus points.” Only she, Jordan, Maya, and Ms. Lawrence actually turned in their papers. That explained why most of the class groaned.

“Don’t worry, eventually we will be transitioning  away from the lesson plan that Ms. Ryan has been using for the last 10 years but for now I want to get an idea of where you are. This essay will give me a chance to look at your individual writing styles. I want this class to encourage free thinking and expression. I’m also not going to give you assignments that satisfied my own voyeurism.” Tiffany raised her hand.

“What does voyeurism mean?” Jordan almost said something snide about Tiffany’s question but Shawn gave him the look and he quieted instantly.

“Okay, it looks like we are going to have to do vocabulary.” Shawn said before suggesting that Tiffany get a dictionary.

“Okay, before we get in to today’s lesson, let’s get all the questions about the new teacher out-of-the-way.” He said as several hands went up. “Let me answer a few of those questions before we start; yes, I am Maya’s father. Yes, I know what some of  you guys did to her and I won’t hold it against your grade in my class but I won’t tolerate it if it happens again. Yes, I’m married and therefore I’m not interested in dating your mother, father, or you.” Tiffany’s response was to quickly pull up her blouse that was showing way too much cleavage. She couldn’t believe that the 13-year-old was trying to hit on her English teacher. That was just disturbing. Both she and Maya just gave her a really disgusted look.

“Don’t give me that look. Maya, your dad is very hot. I’m sure your little BFF probably has a crush on him.” That just made Riley throw up a little in her mouth.

“Although, why would you be interested in dating one of our fathers?” Tiffany asked, absently as one of her friends tried to hide under the desk.

“Probably because he’s married to Riley’s dad.” Jordan snickered. “Did you not hear my earlier comment about our history teacher’s new last name? Do you follow Chloe Davis on twitter?”

“You’re gay?” Tiffany spluttered out.

“That really has no bearing on my ability to teach this class. Again, my last name is Matthews-Hunter, what do you think?” That caused more snickers. “Obviously, question and answer time is not going to be productive and again, you can make things up about me on your own time. Takeout your laptops and pull up the class share point site. Yes, we will now actually be using this resource.” Shawn said this with a look that made everybody pull out their computers. Why did Riley have a feeling it was going to be a very long semester. Yet, she still would rather have Shawn be her teacher than Ms. Ryan.

Although, she wasn’t sure about that when Shawn unsuccessfully tried to keep Jorge from asking her to the Valentine’s Day dance three weeks later.

**Six weeks Later**

Why did Shawn take this job? The hours were horrible, if you factor in how much time it takes to grade 150 essays (he blamed twitter for the 'creative' spelling and lack of punctuation). Riley was still a little mad at him for the entire school realizing that she was the daughter of two teachers (okay, maybe she was a little mad at him for his aggressive efforts in keeping her away from Jorge Cruz). Also, he still hasn’t figured out how to have an uninterrupted make out session with his husband during the middle of the day. Also he had to deal with parents that don’t like him simply because he gave their darling child the grade they actually deserved instead of giving them an easy A because their mother or father was a member of Congress or an ambassador (or in Jorge Cruz's case his dad has a very high position at an embassy). He’s not sure how Cory survived this for years.

Now he remembers why he said yes, because Shawn didn’t want to revert to the old days of hiding bills in various appliances because he couldn’t pay them. Not that he ever did but his parents did. He was making a little less money than before but he and Cory could still make the ridiculously high rent, pay for important things like food, and have money left over for movie night and other little things. Also, he was happy knowing that Maya did not have to deal with a teacher who treated her like shit and encouraged other students to do the same. He may let students get away with a lot of stuff that other teachers don’t, but he doesn’t tolerate hate. Although, he missed hanging out with Topanga on the way to work, making out with Cory in the car makes up for it.  So maybe the job was not that horrible.

Also, Cory promised there would be certain benefits of working at the same school such as lunchtime make out sessions. Of course, Cory being Cory, he has only worked himself up to discreet handholding and the occasional chaste kiss when they managed to end up in a classroom alone together. He’s okay with it because now they come home at the same time and just getting to spend lunch with his husband was nice without anything extra.

Actually, he kind of likes grading papers together too. For example, they realize that Jorge turned in the exact same paper for both English and history. Also, Cory remembered Jorge’s sister turning in that paper two years ago. The downside was he and Cory were called the unpleasant F word when he and Cory confronted Jorge about his cheating. Although, as punishment for what happened, his parents promised to help keep him away from their daughter. Career diplomats knew when it was in their best interested to keep their son from doing something stupid or downright embarrassing.

 The other downside is now that he was a teacher, spouse of a teacher, and parent of a student at the school, it was so much easier for Ms. Jones to force him to play chaperone (much to Maya and Riley’s mortification, as well as, Josh’s amusement). So on Valentine’s Day, instead of taking advantage of the fact that the kids would be at various school sponsored activities, for fun grown up Cory/Shawn time, he was watching his 13-year-old daughter get hit on by three basketball players, one football player, and all of the chess team. (Topanga on the other hand, will still get to make good use of this day with Daniel, he hoped.) The scary thing was, he was most worried about the chess team because they were Maya’s intellectual equals and may actually have half a chance.

“Don’t worry. According to Angela, Maya really isn’t interested in any of the guys here.” Cory said as he discretely squeezed his hand.

Angela decided to borrow Maya for pseudo-mother daughter time, in the form of going dress shopping with Topanga and Riley. Because Angela planned to never have children, she borrows Maya from time to time. The good thing about that is Angela can get Maya to talk about things that he can’t. Also it was a little easier for Angela to give Maya the ‘don’t do anything you’ll regret later’ speech.

The ‘don’t have sex, yet’ speech sounded a little hypocritical coming from him, considering some of the dumb things or rather people he did in high school. He sort of wishes he would’ve made a move on Cory during one of his brakes with Topanga, instead of playing matchmaker. He is not sure he’s ready to explain to Maya that even though he had sex with a lot of people, only two really mattered, because he loved both in very different ways. He’s not sure she’s old enough to understand that yet. He didn’t get it for a very long time.

“That’s because she’s just interested in Robbie and also thanks most boys at the school are and I quote ‘juvenile pricks’ that only want one thing and she doesn’t want to end up like her ‘egg donor’. I do talk to my ex-girlfriend and she provided me the same intelligence.” Shawn said taking a drink of the extremely virginal punch. His number one job was to make sure that the punch was not doctored. Actually, his number one priority was to keep Jorge away from Riley. Fortunately, Maya wasn’t as easily fooled as his stepdaughter and was running interference, as well as, holding her own. Okay thanks to her life, Maya didn’t trust people. Riley was really her only close friend. Even Chloe was still in the acquaintance category.

“Yes, but according to Josh he only sees Maya as Josh’s cute little sister. Granted he sees her as a cool little sister that he wants to be friends with, but still a little sister and he wouldn’t even think about going after Maya. Through Josh, he kindly requested that we stop giving him the glare of death because he really only sees her as a friend. Also, according to Josh, he’s currently dating some junior cheerleader I cannot remember the name of.” Cory said looking sad. Then he remembered that girl that was with Robbie when he stopped by the house to get Josh for the high school Valentine’s Day dance.

“That explained why Maya was crying in the bathroom earlier after Josh left with Robbie. That also explained why she asked me how I dealt with watching you and Topanga be so in love with each other for most of my formative years.” It broke his heart to see his daughter like that. After the little hiccup in December, he was happy that she trusted him to see her so vulnerable. Maybe he will get the gist of this parenting thing before Maya gets to college.

“What was your answer?” Cory asked carefully, as he ran a hand over Shawn’s leg underneath the table. Such an innocent touch could still send a shiver up his spine all these years later.

“That I loved you since that first moment in the sandbox, even though I didn’t know how I loved you. I still do. Because of that love, I just wanted you to be happy, even if I was going to have to spend the rest of my life watching you and Topanga. I need you. I never needed someone else like I needed you. The only person that comes close to that is Maya but it’s a different type of love. I could let you go because I was sure you couldn’t love me the way I love you.” He told Cory honestly as he laced his fingers with his.

“I wish you would’ve told me this back then. Because I think I felt the same way.” Cory said in a low whisper.

“I’m not sure if you were ready back then to actually acknowledge that. Topanga said therapy was involved. I don’t know if I was ready. I have you now and that is what matters.” Shawn said running a finger over the wedding ring now prominently on Cory’s ring finger.

Thanks to the whole fiasco with Ms. Ryan, Cory decided it was just better to have the wedding ring out there. He wasn’t making an announcement in class but he wasn’t going to hide his wedding ring anymore. There weren’t that many negative comments because this is the DC Metro. However, this year’s Martin Luther King Day activities focused on tolerance at Ms. Jones’s suggestion. Although, that may have something to do with Jessica, from his eighth grade honors English class, who was being teased mercilessly after being outed by a so-called friend.

“Always,” Cory said just as he saw Jorge trying to drag his baby girl onto the dance floor for a slow song.

“If his hands go in the wrong place, I’m going to kill him.” Surprisingly, it was Shawn that said this, not Cory.

“No, you’re not.” Cory said getting up from the table

“Yes, I am. I use that move a lot when I was in high school and I know… This really is God’s punishment for the two week rule.” Shawn said deflated.

“Didn’t you just tell me last week that we should let Riley figure out that he’s a jerk on her own? Right now, it looks more like they’re just talking instead of dancing.” Shawn may have said something like that when they were debating whether they should tell Riley exactly what Mr. Cruz said when he was busted for creative use of his sister’s old homework.

“Yes, but I don’t like the way he’s looking at her.”

“Just don’t look and come dance with me. At every dance, a teacher must dance with his or her significant other in an effort to traumatize most of the student body. It’s your turn.” He’s not going to say no, mostly because he’s a little shocked. Cory hated this sort of thing and usually a vast amount of alcohol is needed before you can get him on the dance floor. Cory was still adjusting to the fact that most of the student body knew he was married. However, Ms. Jones did say she expected them on the dance floor at some point tonight. She said it was her way of pointing out that the school will not tolerate stupidity.

“I think you just wanted an excuse to touch me.” Shawn said getting up from the table.

“Maybe, although you could try some of those moves on me.”

“I think we may traumatize half of the student body or at least our children.” He said as they started to walk out to the dance floor

“Perhaps, but hopefully just idiots that are being nasty to Jessica. I think that’s part of the reason why we were told to act like a perfectly healthy married couple.” Of course, as Cory said that an entire cup of punch was poured on Jorge Cruz by his stepdaughter, as Riley promptly ran out of the pink covered gym.

“We were probably supposed to prevent that from happening. I’ll go get a towel and you can talk to Riley.” Cory said pulling away.

“Why me?” He asked mostly because Riley was still very annoyed with him for various teenager reasons.

“You’re the cool stepfather that she actually talks to when she’s not being 13. Also, you are not afraid to go into the ladies room, which is probably where she is right now.” Shawn just rolled his eyes before doing as suggested. As predicted she really was in the ladies room. She was actually on the floor of the ladies room crying.

“Do I want to know why Jorge Cruz is covered in punch?” He asked the crying 13-year-old as he handed her some tissues and sat down next to her on the floor.

“It turns out you were right, he is a jerk.” Riley said wiping her eyes.

“He didn’t put his hands somewhere he shouldn’t have? If he did, I have no problem making sure he won’t do that again.” He offered.

“No, he just saw you and dad together and expressed his sympathies over the fact I have a gay dad; although, that’s not the word he used. I also found out he was the one who painted some of those same words on Jessica’s locker. I don’t date the homophobic on principle.” Shawn is not surprised.

“So your response was to cover him in punch?” Shawn asked.

“It tasted horrible anyway. It was either that or actually punch him. I don’t think there’s automatic suspension for throwing punch as opposed to throwing a punch.” She said as her tears started to subside.

“I think it’s just automatic detention. I’m still learning the rules about punishment. Are you upset about everybody knowing about me and Cory being married?” Shawn asked.

“Not really. Besides, Maya said stupidity is a big turn off and despite how hot he is, Jorge Cruz is a moron.” She said with a shrug.

“Glad you learn something for my daughter.”

“Besides, this way we can be miserable together. I’m sure you figured out what really happened before the dance?” Riley asked.

“Yes. I know it seems like the end of the world because things did not quite work out with the guys you and Maya like but you and her are just 13. Things will get better, eventually. I’m living proof that guys get less stupid as they get older.” He said putting an arm around her.

“You met dad when you were five.” Riley said with a sad expression.

“Yes, but we were in our 30s before we finally figured everything out. Don’t worry about it right now. Concentrate on just being 13. Again, it will all work out eventually.” He told her wisely.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t think I would’ve believed me either at 13. You’re just starting to get acquainted with the way the world is. By the time you get to my age, things will make more sense, but just barely.” He explained.

“I’m still glad that you’re here, even if Jorge says otherwise. As you know you’re a much better teacher than Ms. Ryan.” He would say something about a rock being a better teacher but he didn’t want to ruin this moment.

“Let’s go back in there before Maya and Cory start worrying.” He said picking her up from the bathroom floor.

“Okay,” she said as she hugged him. Maybe he will get this parenting thing before both girls are in college.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m considering doing a high school reunion story in the same universe. Let me know if anybody’s interested.


End file.
